Shingyoku
by Game2002
Summary: When two dangerous people escape from Gensokyo and into the outside world, Shingyoku teams up with Sanae to go after and capture them.
1. Escape Incident

In a rocky passage, a small group of people, some of them with their hands and legs restrained by stocks and chains respectively, marched on, being led by people dressed like policemen of the olden days.

"Are we there yet?" asked one of the restrained people, a black-haired girl with a pair of small horns on her head.

"That's the tenth time you've asked that, Seija…" replied the red-haired woman dressed in a reddish kimono in lead, police commissioner Kotohime.

"Getting annoyed?" asked the black-haired girl, Seija, with a smirk.

"And that makes you happy, right?" Kotohime asked her.

"Hmmm… Let me think… People don't like it when they get annoyed, and since I like it when people are annoyed, that makes me happy!" replied Seija.

"You like to make things complicated, don't you?" Kotohime asked her.

"You still don't know me? I'm an amanojaku, and I do things the reversed way or in ways people usually don't do. You can say that being complicated is a part of my nature!" replied Seija.

"Then your days of doing those things are drawing to an end!" Kotohime told her. "I hope you spend your time in prison by reflecting on the evil things you've done in your life!"

"Oh, trust me, I will be reflecting on them… Reflecting on how fun they are and how I can outdo them in the future! Heeheehee!" said Seija.

"Let's see you try to do something now that you won't be able to see real sunlight again!" Kotohime told her with a smirk.

The group eventually came to a large set of doors made of rock, and floating in the air in front of it was a brown and white yin-yang orb with red markings around it. It spoke in what sounded like a male and female voice speaking at once. "I am Shingyoku, guardian of the gate to the Demon World and Hell. All must give me a reason so that I will grant access to those places."

Many of the people in the group came here for the first time and therefore had never seen Shingyoku before, so they were surprised at the appearance of a talking yin-yang orb. Kotohime approached the large orb and said to it, "It's us from the Gensokyo Police Department. We are here to send some prisoners to Infernal Prison."

"Inferno? You make it sound like we're going to hell," said Seija.

"Because the prison is located close to hell," Kotohime told her. "Infernal Prison is where the worst prisoners of Gensokyo and the Demon World are imprisoned."

"You come here bringing prisoners to the place they deserve for their crimes," said Shingyoku. "Your access shall be granted." The orb then glowed with yellow light while floating forward, causing the set of doors to slowly open. Behind it, one could see a passage of glowing blue light that led to a fork at the end.

Kotohime and the accompanying policemen led the prisoners through the door and walked down the passage, taking the right turn at the fork when they came to it. After about a minute of walking down that path, they emerged at a place with a red sky. Before them, there was a large fortified building located on a mass of land surrounded by lava.

The building resembled a tower that was about five stories tall, and its design gave it a "hellish" appearance. Surrounding the building were tall walls that had spikes on top of them.

"Welcome to Infernal Prison," Kotohime told the prisoners while wiping sweat off her forehead. "This is where you will be spending the rest of your lives."

"Oooh! Nice-looking place! I think I'm going to have fun here!" said Seija with a smirk.

"I'm sure you'll have fun!" Kotohime told her with an "evil" smile.

The prisoners were led towards the set of iron gates that led into the prison ground. The gate guards consisted of a pair of oni wielding large spiked clubs. Kotohime explained to them the reason they came here, and then they nodded before pushing open the gates to give them access inside.

As the prisoners were moving past the oni, one of the latter looked at Seija and said to his partner, "Amanojaku… Never liked them! Feels good every time I see one getting sent here!"

"Oh really? I'll see to it that you feel the opposite once I'm here!" said Seija with a grin when she heard what he said.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try while you're getting tortured and also when behind bars!" the oni said to her.

"Get moving!" Kotohime told Seija without turning her head.

When they got to the front door of the prison, the two fairy guards there were about to give them access inside when suddenly a siren went off, surprising everyone. It was the siren warning people that a prisoner had escaped, so the guards hastily locked the door. All the windows of the building became shut by metal panels.

One of the fairy guards' communication device contacted her, saying, "Elis has escaped! She is on her way towards the front door! Keep the door secured!"

"Already did that!" she replied.

Even though every exit in the prison was sealed tightly, the fairy and the oni guards still got ready in case the prisoner managed to escape somehow. They could hear screaming, shouting, and things being destroyed coming from inside the building.

Kotohime had heard the name Elis before, but she wasn't exactly sure about what kind of person she was. If the sound she heard coming from inside the building was any indication, then this Elis was someone not to take lightly at all.

The shouting became louder, an indication that it was getting close to the front door. "Don't worry; this door is so tough that even oni have problems trying to break through it," one of the fairy guards told Kotohime. "If oni can't break it down, not even a vampire like Elis can…

Before she could finish speaking, the metal panel sealing one of the windows near the front door burst away from its spot, and a purple bat with red eyes flew out at a fast speed, much to the surprise of everyone. "She escaped through the window!" shouted a voice from inside the building.

The oni guards got their weapons as the bat flew in their direction. Instead of heading for the exit, the bat went higher and attempted to fly over the wall surrounding the building. However, it crashed into an invisible barrier and got electrocuted by it before falling to the ground. When it hit the ground, it transformed into a blonde woman with purple eyes and a large pair of bat wings at her back.

"Bet you didn't see the force field coming, eh?" asked one of the oni. "Now get back to prison before you regret it!"

The woman glared at that oni for a second before rushing at him at an unexpectedly fast speed, slashing him across the face. The other oni swung his spiked club at the woman, but she got out of the way, and he ended up hitting his partner.

The woman appeared behind that oni and grabbed one of his horns before flinging him away. The oni who was accidentally hit in the face angrily swung down his club, but the woman dodged it and then reached her hand for the single horn on top of his head. She gripped it with a tremendous force, causing it to shatter. The oni cried in pain as strength drained from his body, and then the woman kicked him away in the face.

The front door of the prison building swung open, and several guards ran in her direction, carrying with them rifles. "Get her!" shouted the one in lead. "Don't let her get away! Kill her if you have to!"

The woman growled in frustration and then attempted to push open the iron gates leading out of the place. She was unable to open it, and she was forced to move out of the way when the guards fired at her.

Moving at a fast speed, the woman zipped around the place and easily took down several of the guards by slashing them with her claws. She also grabbed some and flung them away into others.

She was eventually shot in the shoulder, but she was able to shrug it off and then sped towards the one who shot her and bit him in the neck. The guard screamed as the woman drained him of his blood with such a speed that he shriveled in a matter of seconds, a sight that terrified the others.

After finishing her "meal," the woman turned to look at the others with an evil grin and said, "Much better!" When she spread her arms to the side, they all got into defensive stances. She swung both arms at the same time to fire a large amount of energy projectiles in the shape of spikes, and they went through the guards as smoothly as a knife through butter.

While this was going on, Kotohime and her group tried to keep their distance in order to not get involved. Rather than being shocked at what she was seeing, Seija had the kind of look that implied she was enjoying things.

The woman went on to kill the remaining guards, and when she was done, Kotohime, with her jutte pointing at her, shouted, "You're not going anywhere on my watch!"

The woman glared at her for a few seconds and then rushed in her direction at a fast speed in an attempt to claw her. Kotohime, thanks to having training in self-defense, was able to avoid her downward claw swipe in time by moving aside. Seija was standing behind Kotohime when this happened, and the woman ended up shattering the amanojaku's stocks.

The woman turned to Kotohime, who closed in on her and swung her jutte at her skillfully and in such a way that the former was unable to catch it. Even so, the latter was unable to hurt her.

Kotohime suddenly found herself flipped upside-down, and then she was slammed against the ground headfirst hard, passing out as a result. This surprised the woman, and then Seija called out to her. "That was me. Thanks for the help! These stocks were keeping me from using my powers." The amanojaku then reached out her hand to her. "What say the both of us try to get out of this place together? Something tells me we'll make a great chemistry!"

The woman glared at her for a few seconds and then said, "Grab onto my back."

"Nice of you to accept my offer!" said Seija happily as she jumped onto the woman's back.

"Hey! Take us along as well!" one of the prisoners brought here by Kotohime and her men said to the woman and Seija, but the former ignored them and flew for the gate, while the latter stuck out her tongue at them while flipping a bird.

"You're not getting away!" one of the oni guards angrily said to them with his club in his hand.

Pointing her hand at the oni, Seija used her power to make him spin in circles in the air multiple times before slamming him headfirst against the ground. The key to the gates that was strapped to his waist also fell off as a result, and the woman snatched it before it touched the ground and used it to unlock the gate.

More guards rushed out of the prison building to chase them. "Don't let them get away!"

Once the gate was opened, the woman flew outside as fast as she could with Seija on her back. None of the guards were able to catch up with her. The woman headed into the passage of blue light until she came across the door guarded by Shingyoku.

Shingyoku suddenly appeared in a flash of light before the door. "Oh right, there's still this thing we have to get through first," said Seija.

"I know who you are and I will not allow you to leave this place!" said the yin-yang orb.

"Get out of my way!" the woman angrily shouted at it. She rushed at the orb and swung her claws at it, but the latter formed a barrier in front of itself for protection. The woman pulled back after her hand came in contact with the barrier and then growled in frustration before swinging her claws against the air to fire energy blades.

The energy blades were useless against the barrier. After the blades were gone, the barrier shattered, and each of the pieces became projectiles that shot at them both. The woman closed her wings in front of herself for a successful protection. After projectiles stopped being fired at them, the woman opened her wings, and Seija reached out her hand at the orb to make it spin uncontrollably while moving up and down fast, hitting the ceiling and the floor nonstop.

"Right! Do what a ball is supposed to do!" Seija said to it.

The woman rushed at the ball and slammed her hand against it, sending it into the set of doors and pushing them open and into the room behind.

The woman and Seija came out of the room and tried to escape through the tunnel at the back, but then the yin-yang orb glowed with red light, much to their surprise. The orb changed form while it continued to glow and eventually took the form of a red-haired woman with four horns coming out of the sides of her head, two on each side.

"Ooh! That's what I call a neat magic trick!" commented Seija.

"You will not leave here!" said the woman. She dashed at the blonde woman to throw a punch at her. The latter caught her fist, and then they both traded punches with each other furiously, but neither of them actually succeeding in hitting each other.

Since it was dangerous to continue holding onto the woman's back, Seija got off from her and moved back a bit before lifting a finger in front of herself to make arrow-shaped projectiles appear behind Shingyoku. Flicking her finger, she made the arrows fly at the unsuspecting Shingyoku, hitting her in the back and disrupting her fighting. The woman was able to punch her across the face hard as a result.

Shingyoku recovered fast and then covered herself in blue light. This time, she transformed in a black-haired man dressed like a priest of Japan's olden days.

"From a yin-yang orb into a woman and then into a man? Now I've seen everything…" commented Seija.

With his hands glowing with blue light, Shingyoku thrust his palms at the two, releasing a large amount of magical energy that sent them flying back at a fast speed into the passage of blue light.

The woman came to a skidding stop and growled angrily while looking at Shingyoku, and then she heard sound coming from behind. The guards from the prison were heading over to the place.

Shingyoku floated into the passage and said, "This is as far as you go! You will go back to prison, where you rightfully belong!"

"I'm not going back in there again!" the blonde woman angrily shouted.

"An evildoer like you has no other place to go other than prison! It is the most fitting place for you!" Shingyoku told her as his hands glowed with blue light again.

The blonde woman took out a wand that had a star-shaped tip, which glowed with yellow light. Shingyoku thrust his palms at her to fire the blast of magic at the same time she used the wand to fire a large zigzag beam. The attacks clashed with each other, and their firers attempted to overcome each other with their respective attacks.

As they put more power into their attacks, the latter became larger and larger. Eventually, the projectiles reached a point where they could no longer hold up against each other, and an unexpected explosion occurred, propelling both sides in opposite directions.

The explosion struck the passage of blue light and caused a hole to appear on one side. Seeing that hole as a possible escape route, the blonde woman and Seija flew through it. Seeing that the two had escaped through the hole, Shingyoku attempted to go after them, but the hole automatically mended itself at a fast speed, so he couldn't follow them.

"No…" he nervously said.

A rip appeared in the sky above a forest, and out of it came the woman and Seija. Shortly after they emerged, the rip mended itself by closing up and then disappearing. Not a trace of it was left at all.

"Well, that was quite an unexpected turn of events," said Seija. "I was wondering if we made the right decision in slipping into that place. Looks like it was the right decision after all!"

The woman shielded her face from the sun before heading for the trees below. This action made Seija curious, so she followed her and found her hiding under the trees' shade. "Can't handle the sun?" Seija asked her. "If I have to make a guess, I'd say you're a sun-fearing being that thrives in the dark… A vampire!"

The woman looked at her for a few seconds and then said, "Yeah, I'm a vampire. Anyway, where are we?"

"Dunno… Doesn't look like any place in Gensokyo I know," said Seija while looking around the place with one hand over her eyes. "I've been almost all over Gensokyo while on the run from the law, but I can honestly say that this is someplace new… Eh, whatever… We'll find out soon enough. By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Seija Kijin, an amanojaku known throughout Gensokyo as the greatest and most dangerous troublemaker that place has ever known!"

"Never heard of you," said the woman. "Guess I've been in that infernal place for a really long time that I have almost no idea how things are at Gensokyo."

"Well, now you know!" Seija said to her. "What did you do to get yourself locked up there for such a long time?"

"Being a threat in the Demon World is all you need to know," the woman told her.

"So you're from the Demon World? Never been there before… They say the creeps there can be so creepy that even the folks at Gensokyo won't believe it!" said the amanojaku.

"I wouldn't know. I've never actually been to Gensokyo," said the woman. "I did meet some people from that place when they came to the Demon World."

"You should go there some time," Seija told her. "They've got some pretty interesting folks over there! There's this particular shrine maiden that I enjoy messing with! It's soooooo fun looking at her get frustrated every time she hears about me causing trouble!"

Hearing what she said, the woman glared at her and asked, "Shrine maiden? Would her name happen to be Reimu Hakurei?"

Surprised, Seija pointed at her and said, "Bingo! You cannot be any more correct than saying the name 'Reimu Hakurei,' my favorite person in Gensokyo! You know her?"

"Yes, because we fought each other a long time ago," replied the woman in a voice filled with frustration and rage.

"I bet you have quite a story to tell me regarding that!" said Seija. "By the way, I didn't quite catch your name. I heard one of the guards there mentioning it, but I didn't hear it properly. It was Alice or something, right?"

"Elis," the woman replied. "Elis the Innocence Devil."

.

.

.

.

.

 **Opening Theme  
beside the time  
(vocal remix of The Positive and the Negative, by Seventh Heaven MAXION)**

A Game2002 Production

.

TOUHOU PROJECT

 _ **SHINGYOKU**_

.

.

.

All characters are owned by Team Shanghai Alice/ZUN

All notable OCs will be mentioned

.

.

.

 **Theme Ends**

.

.

.

.

.

 **Chapter 1  
Escape Incident  
**

* * *

"How long has it been since I left the outside world for this place?"

That was the question that went through Sanae's head as she watched a television talking about the latest products of the outside world.

She couldn't remember how long she had been in Gensokyo, but she was sure that it had been quite a while. Despite thinking about this question, it wasn't like she missed living in the outside world. In fact, she found herself enjoying her stay in Gensokyo more than there.

She was never really the kind of person to get excited by the latest fads in products and fashions out there, and she wasn't the most social person either. This was due to her family being religious people who worked at a shrine, and most people out there had no interest in religions nowadays, so they would sometime see the Kochiya family as being weird people for being so attached to what they believed were nonexistent. That was also the reason the goddess of her shrine, Kanako, moved the entire building to Gensokyo, so that the sky goddess would be able to have followers.

"I'm getting left behind by these things from the outside world," she thought as she watched the television. "Even with the latest things we have in possession that somehow came to this place, I still feel like I'm missing out a lot of things… Would be nice if I can go out there again…"

The last time she went to the outside world was during the incident where several of the inhabitants of the place were forcefully taken to an alternate universe where superheroes existed. She was excited when she found that she was in the outside world, and one not of her own universe so that she could see new things that couldn't be found in her own world. Now she felt like going to the outside world of her own universe.

Just as she was thinking about this, she heard Kanako calling out to her. "Sanae! We have guests here! Come and serve them!"

"Yes, Mistress Kanako!" replied the wind priestess as she got up to turn off the TV and then headed out of the room to serve the guests.

No sooner afterwards, Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae were sitting in the same room in front of the table, and on the other side were Kotohime, Yukari, and Shingyoku in her female form.

"So you're saying that you wish Sanae would assist in Shingyoku in her quest to go to the outside world to help capture the escaped convicts?" asked Kanako after hearing the whole story from Kotohime.

"Exactly," replied Kotohime.

"But why would you want our Sanae to go along?" asked Kanako.

* * *

 _FLASHBACK_

"They escaped into the outside world?!" asked Reimu in shock after hearing from Kotohime what happened.

"That's what experts said after carefully investigating the passage linking between Gensokyo and hell," Kotohime told her. "As you can see, hell exists within a barrier similar to that of the Great Hakurei Barrier so that outsiders won't end up in it by digging through the ground, and the only way to access that place is through the tunnel created by magic accessed from Gensokyo.

"When Elis and Shingyoku's magic clashed, they created a powerful explosion of magic that caused a tear in the passage, and somehow, it created a warp that led to the outside world."

"I helped investigate this, so trust me in this," said Yukari, who was sitting next to Kotohime.

"So let me guess: you want me to go to the outside world, find those two, and bring them back here before they cause any trouble, right?" asked Reimu.

"Those two are residents of Gensokyo, at least one of them is, so we do not wish that the problems of our land bring any trouble to the outside world," said Kotohime.

"I'm not sure if I'm the right person for this job…" said Reimu. "First, the only time I went to the outside world was when dealing with that outsider named Usami, and I didn't really go anywhere other than fighting her in the air of the general location I showed up in."

"I thought you've been to the outside world long enough when you went to alternate universes?" asked Kotohime.

"Those are not the same universes, so I don't think my experiences there apply here…" Reimu told her. "Also, you know my presence in Gensokyo is important for holding up the Great Hakurei Barrier, so I can't leave this place. Yes, I know the barrier can exist without me for at least a month, but I'd rather play it safe and not risk doing something that would affect it…"

"You do have a point," said Yukari. "If we want to send someone to the outside world, then it should be someone who has good knowledge of that place. I know I do, but… you know what they say about superiors working behind the scenes and sending out the people below them to do the job. Plus, I don't see this as something so serious that I need to do things myself."

"More like you're finding an excuse to not get yourself out of your bed…" grumbled Reimu. "And when did I start working for you?"

"Anyway, I think it is better to find someone who is well versed with the outside world to do this job," said Yukari, ignoring what Reimu said.

"Who do you have in mind?" Kotohime asked her.

"I'm sure I know the right candidate for this job," replied the demon of boundaries.

 _END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

"The tanuki from the Myouren Temple doesn't look like someone who is willing to help with this sort of thing, so we decided that the best candidate is Sanae," Yukari explained to the folks at the Moriya Shrine. "With her knowledge of the outside world and her sense of justice, I'm sure she'll be able to help Shingyoku capture those two convicts."

"But Sanae has been away from the outside world for a while now! Her knowledge of that place probably won't be able to help her due to how much things have changed out there!" claimed Kanako.

"I'll go!" said Sanae with sparkly eyes. "I am more than happy to work with Shingyouku in capturing those two captives!"

"Sanae?! Are you sure you want to go to the outside world?" It's dangerous!" Kanako told her.

"I helped resolved incidents in Gensokyo before, so this is just another incident for me to solve. It's nothing big!" said Sanae. In reality, she wanted to use this as an opportunity to go back to the outside world to have fun.

"Let her go, Kanako," Suwako told her. "She's all grown up. You can't hold her back like a child all the time. If she can go to the moon and come back unscratched, I'm sure she can go to the outside world and back unscratched as well."

"Pleae let me go, Mistress Kanako!" Sanae begged the sky goddess. "I will do everything I can to capture those two villains! The outside world is where I was born and grew up, and even if I don't live there anymore, I will not allow people to mess up the place of my birth! Please! I want to go."

"Please let her go," Kotohime told Kanako. "She looks determined, so I'm sure she will be of help."

"Well, if you really insist on going, fine…" said Kanako with a sigh. "You did go to the moon and back unscratched, and you've been to the outside world not very long ago too, albeit not our own. I'm sure you'll do fine out there."

"All right! Thank you, Mistress Kanako!" Sanae happily said to her, and then she turned to Yukari. "When do we go?"

"I've been keeping an eye on news of the outside world, and so far, there have been no reports of them causing trouble," said Yukari. "Since it doesn't look like we have to be in a rush just yet, we'll go tomorrow morning."

"All right! I can't wait!" said Sanae with enthusiasm.

* * *

That night, Shingyoku stayed at the Moriya Shrine. Rather than being inside the building itself, she was in front of it, in her female form.

Sanae looked at her from the front door for a few seconds and then approached her to ask, "Are you sure you don't want to come inside?"

"It's all right," she replied. "I am a gatekeeper, so I have to stay outside to keep watch of this building."

"You don't have to force yourself to do this all the time," Sanae told her. "It's not like you're guarding an incredibly important place. Well, Mistress Kanako sees it as being important, since it is her shrine after all… What I mean is… since you're not guarding your usual place, you do not have to burden yourself in doing what you always do. Now that you're somewhere else, you should take your time to relax and have fun!"

"I appreciate your concern, but I am more used to doing my job all the time. For as long as I can remember, this has been the only thing I have been doing," Shingyoku told her.

"Have you ever been anywhere else other than keeping watch of the entrance to the Demon World and Hell?" Sanae asked her.

"Never," replied the gatekeeper.

"Wow… Then you must have never seen anything out there and know very little…" Sanae told her.

"Information wind up at where I am every once in a while to keep me notified of what is happening out there," Shingyoku told her. "It is true, however, that I have never experienced any of the things I've read and seen myself."

"Oh, okay…" said Sanae while wondering what she meant when information somehow ended up at where she was. "Well, I look forward to working with you tomorrow. I'm sure we'll get along with each other!"

"I gladly accept your request in aiding me in this mission," Shingyoku told her. "I allowed the convicts to escape, so I feel that is my responsibility to make up for it by capturing them myself."

"Don't burden yourself too much," Sanae told her. "People have limits to what they can do, so you shouldn't feel too bad and blame yourself for your failure. Anyway, we'll see each other tomorrow! Good night!"

"Sleep well, Miss Sanae," Shinyoku told her.

* * *

"Who can it be during this time of the day at a place like this?" a middle-aged woman said as she went over to open the door after hearing a knocking on it. She opened the door and found Elis standing out there, looking frail and on the verge of tears. "Yes? How may I help you?"

"I'm a traveler, and I can't find a place to lodge for the night," said the vampire in a voice that made people want to take pity on her. "I lost my supplies to bandits… Is it all right if you… let me stay here for the night?"

Because of her sad look, the woman felt pity for her. "You look like you really do need shelter. All right; come on in! Please make yourself feel at home!"

"Thank you very much!" said Elis cheerfully. After going inside, Elis looked around the place while asking, "Does anyone else live here with you?"

"No, I live by myself," the woman told her while closing and locking the door.

"Won't you get bored or feel unsafe living all by yourself out in the countryside?" Elis asked her.

"I have neighbors who keep me company, and nothing bad has happened around here for a long time, so there's really nothing to be afraid of," said the woman as she turned around, and she noticed Elis's wings, which were folded together in a way that it couldn't be seen from the front. "That's quite a costume you've got there!"

"Oh, you're referring to my wings?" asked Elis as she turned around. "Looks cool, don't they? Would you believe it if I tell you that they are real and I am a vampire?"

The woman laughed and then said, "Haha! You're a funny one!"

Elis also laughed and then said, "Yeah, I can be a funny person at times! But seriously, though…" Without a warning, the vampire moved towards the woman at a fast speed and caught her by the neck before she could react. "I am a genuine vampire, and I will prove it to you!" Then she bit the woman in the neck and drained her blood, while the latter screamed in pain and terror.

After her prey had shriveled up, Elis dropped the dead woman onto the floor and dusted her hands before heading over to the door to open it, and Seija was standing out there. "Innocence Devil… You really are a pro at making yourself look sweet and innocent!" said the amanojaku as she came into the house.

"Thanks for the compliment!" Elis said while striking a "cute" pose of closing one eye and placing a sideways victory sign over the open eye.

Seija looked at the woman's corpse and kicked it. "So… whatcha gonna do with this? I'm sure it'll smell if you leave it around here."

"Just throw it somewhere where people won't find it so easily," said Elis.

"I'll leave that to you, then," said Seija as she walked past her with her hands at the back of her head. "I'm going to go and make the both of us comfortable around here until we've decided on what to do and where to go next."

"Do you have any ideas?" Elis asked her as she lifted the dead woman over her body. "I'm sure you know about the outside world more than me."

"Not much, actually," said Seija. "I do know how things work out here to some extent, though. I'm sure I'll figure out something. I'm more accustomed to causing trouble in a place I'm familiar with, but now that I'm in the outside world, I might as well make the best of it and show the folks out here something they may have never witnessed before!''

"And what might that be?" asked Elis.

Seija grinned and replied, "Let's just say I'm going to turn their world upside-down. Heeheehee!"

* * *

The next morning, Kanako, Suwako, Shingyoku, Kotohime, and Yukari were outside the Moriya Shrine. "Are you done yet, Sanae?" Kanako called out into the building. "We're all waiting for you!"

"Coming!" replied Sanae's voice from inside. A few seconds later, the wind priestess came out, wearing a casual-looking dress and carrying a green backpack on her back.

"What's with that getup…?" asked Suwako.

"We're going to the outside world, so I have to get dressed up in a way that makes me blend in! Shrine maidens are uncommon out there nowadays, so I have to wear something that won't make people stare at me."

"She has a point," said Yukari, and then she looked at Shingyoku. "You'll have to not only change your outfit, but also do something about your horns."

"The only way I can make my horns disappear is by changing into my male form," said Shingyoku. "If I must, I will stay in that form as long as I am out there."

"That's a solution. As for a different outfit…" said Yukari while placing her fingers underneath her chin. "I think I know a good place to get you something to wear."

* * *

Rinnosuke was seated behind his counter, reading a newspaper from the outside world he somehow managed to get his hand on. When he heard footsteps, he lowered the newspaper and looked at the entrance to see Yukari and her group coming in. "Welcome, Yukari!"

"How's business?" Yukari asked him.

"Can't say I'm making any profit…" replied Rinnosuke. "I'm sure you should know that by now."

"Well, if you are more willing to actually sell your products, perhaps you'll make more money," Yukari told him. "Moving your shop to a more populated place is also an idea."

"Are those the only solutions you can come up with?" Rinnosuke asked her. "I have my ways of doing things, and I don't really intend to change them."

"That mindset of yours will never make you earn big bucks," Yukari told him. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk to you about that. You should be glad that I'm here to buy something, assuming that you are willing to sell them."

"Look around, then," said Rinnosuke while pointing his hand around the place. "Not sure if there is anything here that interests you. Seeing how you've brought other people along, I assume that you're actually here to get them something, right?"

"Indeed," said Yukari. "I'm here to look for some men's clothing."

"Men's clothing? That's not something I hear coming from you every day," said Rinnosuke, and then he looked at Shingyoku. "It's for him, right? Who is he?"

"I am Shingyoku, guardian of the gate to the Demon World and hell," replied the gatekeeper. "I have failed my duty by allowing two dangerous convicts to escape into the outside world. Therefore, it is my responsibility to find them and bring them back here."

"The gatekeeper of those two places? I've heard about you," said Rinnosuke. "I've heard rumors of you capable of altering your appearance to suit your liking or something like that, is that right?"

"Yes, I am capable of changing between three different forms at will," replied Shingyoku. "Each form has its own strong points that suit different situations."

"If that really is true, then I would like to see for myself what you are capable of!" said Rinnosuke with interest while rubbing his chin.

"I would appreciate it if we don't waste time and get down to business…" Yukari told him with a hint of impatience in her tone.

"If it will satisfy you and make you cooperate with us, then I am willing," said Shingyoku before covering himself in light and then transforming into his female form.

"Oh, I see!" said Rinnosuke.

Shingyoku then changed into her yin-yang orb form before changing back into her male form. "I am capable of changing between three different forms. My male form is skilled in the usage of magical and spiritual powers, my female form is suitable for close-range combats, and my yin-yang form specializes in creating barriers."

"Each form with its own capability! Interesting! All right; you have satisfied me!" said Rinnosuke. "You need clothing in order to blend into the outside world, right? It's definitely true that you need a change of clothing, because from what I've seen on printed medias of that place, your attire will make you stand out too much and attract unnecessary attention. I'll see what I can provide you with, so if you would please follow me!"

Rinnosuke told Shingyoku to follow him to another part of the building, while the girls waited for them to return.

They girls waited for several minutes, to the point where they became impatient. "What's taking him so long…?" asked Kotohime.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" said the voice of Rinnosuke from the other room. He came back out with Shingyoku behind him, and the latter was wearing a gray suit and a pair of matching color trousers. "What do you think?"

"Formal dressing, eh? He looks like he'll make a fine businessman in that getup!" said Yukari, looking pleased with what she saw. "What do you think, Shingyoku?"

The gatekeeper said, "I am unfamiliar with the clothing of the outside world. If this is the kind of clothing they wear and will help me blend in, then it is all right with me."

"I think he looks neat!" commented Kanako. "That suit sure suits him nicely!"

"Perhaps more casual clothing will do better?" asked Sanae.

"I did try it on him, but I don't really find it suitable on him," Rinnosuke told her. "I finally settled for one that is formal-looking, and I think he looks great!"

"Well, if you say so…" said Sanae. "By the way, do you think we should get him women's clothing as well? You'll never know when he needs it."

"Will that really be necessary?" Kotohime asked her. "I thought he was going to be in his male form most of the time."

"It wouldn't hurt to be prepared! You have women's clothes, do you?" Sanae asked Rinnosuke.

"Yeah, I do have some," replied the shopkeeper. "They're in the same room."

"Then I'll pick one for him!" said Sanae as she went over to Shingyoku to drag him back into the other room.

"We don't have time to waste…" Yukari told the wind priestess, but the latter didn't listen to her and started looking for women's clothing to give to Shingyoku.

"This one looks good! Nah, let's try this one instead. This looks great!" said Sanae while looking through Rinnosuke's catalogue of women's clothing.

After several minutes, Sanae came back out of the room with Shingyoku in her female form, wearing a pink dress similar to Yukari's purple dress. "Look! This is the one I picked for her! I think she looks great in it!" Sanae told the others.

"If you ask me, I think it would be better if she wear the female counterpart of her male form's attire," suggested Rinnosuke.

"Do you guys want to go to the outside world or not?!" asked Kotohime in frustration. "While you people are busy picking clothes, those two are probably committing crime all over the place already!"

Because of Kotohime's rage and the realization that they really shouldn't be wasting their time doing this, Sanae and Kotohime decided that they really should be going. The latter changed into her male form, which had the suit on.

"Thanks for the help!" Yukari said to Rinnosuke while paying for the clothes. "Keep the change."

"Glad to be of help!" said the shopkeeper as he gladly accepted the cash. "Oh, by the way, you should look at the newspaper. Something tells me it will help you in some way." He handed over the newspaper he was reading to them and showed them the article he wanted to talk about. "See this? I'm sure this is something that doesn't usually happen in the outside world."

The girls read through the article, which talked about the dead body of a woman that was shriveled up and found hidden in a field of tall grass. This baffled people as to what could have caused this.

"This is definitely the work of Elis," said Yukari. "She's a vampire, so unless there's another vampire out there, it's definitely her who did this."

"Then we must hurry before they cause more harm to innocent people," suggested Shingyoku.

"Right, we should," agreed Yukari.

After thanking Rinnosuke for the clothes, the group went outside the building. "How are we going to get in contact with you when we're outside?" asked Sanae.

"Actually… I have no idea on how you should contact me to bring you back here as well…" said Yukari. "Let's just say I'll keep an eye on things and show up when I think I'm needed."

"You didn't actually plan this out, did you…?" Kanako asked her.

"To be fair, something like this has never happened before," said Kotohime, "so we don't exactly know how to deal with this…"

"Anyway, just look around for possible places where they could have gone to," Yukari told Sanae and Shingyoku. "They're likely to make headlines, so pay attention to the news to find out where they might be. Also, try to avoid causing too much attention with your abilities. As you know, most people out there are unaware of the existence of supernatural and magical things, so if they see what you're capable of, it's sure to cause a ruckus."

"Don't worry; I won't cause a ruckus!" said Sanae.

"You have my word in this matter," said Shingyoku. "I will refrain myself from taking unnecessary actions."

"Then we'll head over to where the dead body is found and see if we can find out anything," said Yukari. "I'll accompany you for a bit before leaving things to you." After saying that, the demon opened up a gap next to herself, and Sanae said good-bye to Kanako before entering it with the demon of boundaries and Shingyoku.

"Take care! Don't get yourself into serious trouble!" Kanako told her. After the gap closed, the goddess said, "I still can't keep myself from worrying that something bad might happen to Sanae…"

"You're worrying too much," Kotohime told her. "She helped resolved incidents here before and made it back in one piece. She should be able to deal with this just the same."

"I still get worried about her when she went around solving incidents here," Kanako told her. "But I guess you're right; I am worrying too much. Sanae's all grown up now, so I'm sure she can handle things herself!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Here's the next installment in my Touhou series, the previous one being White World! As you can see, I'm doing something that nobody else seem to have done before by making a story that stars the obscure and almost forgotten Shingyoku, the first boss of the Touhou series.

Because there's really no information on Shingyoku other than him/her being the gatekeeper of the paths to the Demon World and hell, I had to come up with things for her. Here, I am portraying him/her as a serious and obedient person, but who knows? Perhaps his/her personality will undergo character development and change.

Elis is another character who has pretty much no information on, so I had to come up with things for her as well. Since she is officially known the Innocence Devil, I thought making her an expert in looking innocent is a fitting portrayal for her.

Demon World is what I'm going to call Makai from now on in the series, even though I used the latter in my previous stories. It's just a name change for a location that won't be visited or mentioned often, so it's not like I made a major retcon. The reason for this change is due to "Demon World" being the term that most localizations use for "Makai," such as in Disgaea. I never really found Japanese terms that can't be found in English dictionaries to "blend" well with English terms, so I try to use English translations and equivalents as much as possible.

Let's hope I didn't miss out anything else I want to say, such as mentioning that I also own those yukkuri abuser celebrity OCs in my previous story Strive for Easiness: An Easy Epilogue and the fact that some of those abuse scenes are inspired by pictures I saw on the Internet... That story has been updated with those notes in case you didn't see my Twitter.


	2. Trip to the Outside World

Hmmm… Only one review… And I thought I would be able to attract people if I put effort into making a long first chapter with the best quality I can make… Guess isn't as populated as it used to be…

Here's hoping that more people will read and review this story…

 **Chapter 2  
Trip to the Outside World**

* * *

Yukari, Sanae, and Shingyoku stepped out of the former's gap and found themselves in the countryside. Not too far away, they could see some people gathered together. "That's got to be the one," said Yukari.

"Wow! I can't believe I'm back in the outside world!" said Sanae while looking around the place, not listening to Yukari as a result. She stretched her arms and took a deep breath. "The air sure is fresh! It's as good as Gensokyo's!"

"That's because we're in the countryside, where the air is fresh compared to cities," Yukari told her, and then she turned to Shingyoku. "Since you're unfamiliar with everything out here, you should avoid doing and saying anything unnecessary as much as possible. Also try to act natural to everything you see. I know there are many things out here that will surprise or confuse you, but since we don't want people giving you strange looks because of your behavior, try to pretend that all that you see is nothing special."

"I will," said Shingyoku with a deadpan face.

"I think he should do fine," Sanae told Yukari. "Honestly saying, it doesn't look like he's good at making expressions nor does he looks like the kind of person who would be surprised so easily." Then she said to Shingyoku, "No offense…"

"I am not offended in any way," said the gatekeeper.

"Well yeah, he's actually that kind of person…" said Yukari. "Anyway, let's go over there and see if we can learn anything."

The trio headed over to where the people were. The people were gathered around a yellow line set up by the police, and on the other side of the line was a white string tied by their ends to form a circle and placed on the ground.

Taking a look at the white circle, Yukari asked a person next to her, "Excuse me, sir, what is happening here?"

"A dead body was found here," replied that person. "That white circle is where it used to be. They've taken the body away so that autopsy can be performed on."

"I've seen the body," a woman close by said after hearing him. "It's all shriveled up like it turned dry. It's really creepy…"

"Oh my… What could have possibly caused that kind of death…?" asked Yukari, pretending to know nothing.

"It looks almost as if a blood-sucking creature sucked out her blood…" said the woman.

"Maybe a vampire did it!" said Sanae.

"I normally wouldn't believe you, but seeing how that corpse looked like, I'm inclined to agree with you…" said the woman. "I'd rather think that some dangerous person drained her of her blood or something like that… That sounds more realistic."

"Whoever did that must be sick out of his mind…" said the man. "The killer must be an insane cultist trying to appeal to his made-up god or something by doing this."

"Does anyone know where this woman lives?" Yukari asked them.

"Yeah, she lives in that house over there," replied the woman while pointing to a house in the distance. "There are police investigating that place at the moment to see if they can find out more about this."

"Thanks!" Yukari said to her, and then she turned to leave, telling Sanae and Shingyoku to come along. "Let's go over there and see if we can find out anything, shall we?"

They made their way to the house, and it was just like the woman said, police were investigating the house. They had yellow lines set up all around it so that people couldn't cross over. "They're obviously not going to let anyone go in there…" said Sanae, looking at the house.

"Nothing is stopping us from taking a peek, though," said Yukari before making a small gap appear in front of her eyes. When she looked through it, she was able to see the interior of the house from the ceiling. The gap moved around so that she could see different parts of the place. There wasn't anything peculiar, other than a messy dinner table, evidence that someone had been using it.

"Saw anything?" Sanae asked her.

"Can't say I found anything useful…" replied Yukari.

A policeman investigating the house saw the gap, so Yukari closed it fast. The policeman thought he saw something, but since he couldn't see it anymore, he decided to shrug it off as seeing things.

"Oopsie… Almost saw me there…" said the demon.

"How about we just ask? I'm sure they're willing to spare some info if we offer to help. It's easier that way!" suggested Sanae, and then she turned to a policeman standing behind the line. "Excuse me, officer, have you found anything peculiar in there? Like anything that can help find out who that woman's killer is and where he went? We're willing to lend a hand in this matter if we get to learn more information."

"Until we find out more evidence, all information is to remain confidential," the policeman told her. "I appreciate you wanting to help, but I believe that it's best that you leave things to the police."

"Please… I'm very good at solving incidents! You can trust me in getting this sort of thing done!" begged Sanae.

"Please leave things to us," the policeman insisted.

"We'll let them do their job for now," Yukari told Sanae. The group moved away from the place, and then Yukari said she'll try to take a peek in there again. She opened up a smaller gap that only allowed one eye to look through. She carefully scanned the place to make sure that nobody would see her.

Her eyes eventually fell upon a couple of policemen standing in front of a map taped to the wall. There was a pin at one part of the map and a red "x" marked on a location close to it. "I have a feeling that the culprit has headed over to Tokyo," said one of the policemen. "The pin here is where we currently are, and that 'x' must be marked by the killer."

"What makes you so sure?" asked the other policeman.

"You see this red marker on top of the drawer?" asked the first policeman, and then he opened the drawer. "There are other markers in here, yet this red one isn't put inside. This implies that someone used the red one. Considering that the culprit likely used the dinner table and didn't clean it, he must be a messy person who doesn't tidy things up and therefore didn't put the marker back in its original location after using it."

"The owner of this house might have used the marker herself…" said the other policeman.

"I'm sure we'll find out the truth after we check the fingerprints on this marker," said the first policeman as he picked up the red marker using a handkerchief and then put it into a plastic bag. "I have a hunch that my theory is correct."

After hearing all those, Yukari made the gap disappear and then told Sanae and Shingyoku, "Looks like I found out something."

"What did you find out?" asked Sanae.

"It's just a theory, but it does make sense if you think about it," said Yukari. "I believe the people we are looking for must've gone to Tokyo. That place is close to here, and what better place to cause trouble than in the capital of Japan?"

"Sounds plausible!" agreed Sanae. "Let's go there as soon as we can!"

"I can easily get you there using my gap," said Yukari.

"Your ability sure is handy for traveling anywhere, isn't it?" asked Sanae.

"True, but I may have problems using it to go to places I have never been to before or don't know what they look like," said Yukari. "Let's do it in a place where nobody will see us."

The trio went somewhere far away from everyone else, and then Yukari opened up a gap for them all to go into. While they were inside the gap, Yukari told the two, "I'll be letting the two of you go on your own now."

"You sure you don't want to stick around to help?" asked Sanae.

"I don't see this as something big enough to warrant my help," Yukari told her. "This has always been my way of doing things. I wouldn't have asked you for help if I didn't believe in you. I'm sure the both of you are more than enough to get this done. I will contact you every once in a while to see if things are going smoothly, so rest assure that you are getting support from me to some extent."

"Please rest assure that we will find the convicts in the shortest time possible," Shingyoku told her. "You do not have to have any worries about us."

"Right! Leave it all to us!" said Sanae with confidence.

"Seija's the kind of person who likes to make herself known, so I'm sure you'll eventually come across news about her one way or the other," Yukari told them. "Again, remember to refrain from using your powers unless necessary. We don't want to cause any unnecessary ruckus with what you are capable of."

After Shingyoku and Sanae assured her that they wouldn't, Yukari opened up a gap for them to go through. When the two exited the gap, they found themselves on a pavement with houses and walls on both sides. "Hey look! We're in a neighborhood!" pointed out Sanae. "Brings back memories of when I was younger!"

* * *

Yukari reappeared outside Kourindou, and Kanako and Kotohime were already gone. In place of them, Reimu was standing there, tapping the ground with her foot over and over, as if she was expecting the demon to show up. "So… they're in the outside world now?" asked the shrine maiden.

"Where else can they be?" replied the demon. "I'm sure they'll do fine."

"Yeah, Sanae is pretty good at what she does, so I'm sure she'll do fine," said Reimu. "Seija really isn't all that tough once you actually get in a fight with her. She's mostly all barks and no bites… Can't really say anything about Elis, though, since it's been a while since I fought her and even saw her… She wasn't that much of a challenge when I fought her back then, however."

"Some people become stronger from losses and even during times of suffering," said Yukari. "Elis is one of those people. I dare say that the Elis now is nothing like the Elis you faced that time."

"Tell me about it," said the shrine maiden.

"I dare say she is at a level where she can go toe to toe with Remilia," said Yukari in a serious tone, "but as long as they don't face her in places with no sun, she won't be able to go all-out."

* * *

After the bus arrived at its stop, Sanae and Shingyoku stepped out of it and onto the sidewalk. The former looked around with a happy expression at the city square, which was bustling with people. "Haven't seen this sort of scene in a long time! It sure brings back memories!" said the wind priestess. "I'm going to make sure to have a lot of fun here before going back home!"

"Miss Sanae, we must do our duty fast," Shingyoku told her.

"Don't worry about that," Sanae told him. "I'm sure we'll run into them one way or the other soon. Until they make themselves known, let's have some fun first! Now that you're in the outside world, you shouldn't miss out the opportunity to experience everything fun this place has to offer! C'mon! Let's go to a department store! I'm sure they have a lot of fun stuff there!"

Shingyoku was going to say something about their job being their priority, but Sanae grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the nearest department store before he could finish his line.

* * *

Tearing out the piece of paper that came out from the machine, a bespectacled girl with brown hair looked at the number written on the former before turning to look at an electronic board on the wall. This caused a look of frustration to appear on her face. "I have to wait fifty numbers…? Ugh… How long is that going to take…?"

There was nothing she could do about this, so the girl, Sumireko Usami, went to look for a chair to sit down and wait for her turn at the counter. She was running errand for her mother, who told her to go to the bank to store money. The bank was so crowded today that there were no chairs left to sit on, so there were several people standing. Even walking through the place was hard because of the number of people.

"What's with today?" Sumireko grumbled in frustration. "Why are there so many people here at the bank today? I was hoping that things would go smoothly and end fast… I don't think I'll be able to get back home within an hour at this rate…" She looked at the board and hoped to see the numbers change fast, but she stared for more than a minute and the numbers didn't change at all. "Oh please… Work faster, can't you?! Don't keep your customers waiting!"

Sumireko had no choice but to wait, and because there was nowhere to sit, she leaned against a pillar and then took out her cell phone to play games on it to pass time before it was her turn.

As she was doing this, a group of six people with their heads covered in black cloths came into the bank, carrying with them guns. One of them fired at the ceiling right after coming in, frightening everyone. "This is a robbery! Every one of you! Don't move!"

Everyone raised his or her arms into the air in fear, while the robbers went to the counter to demand money. The sole guard of the place was shot down before he could do something about them.

"Great… Just when today couldn't get any worse…" Sumireko grumbled with her arms in the air. She wasn't as scared as other people, because she was capable of defending herself using her psychic powers. However, she didn't really want to attract too much attention with her ability, so she tried to think of some way to get out of this problem without attracting attention.

Two particular people in the bank didn't have their arms raised into the air. Instead, they watched from the corner of the room with crossed arms while leaning against the wall. It was Seija and Elis. "What did I tell you about this kind of place being a magnet for trouble?" the former said to the latter with a smile.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Making the First Move

One of the six bank robbers is a woman. Variety in gender!

 **Chapter 3  
Making the First Move**

* * *

Some of the bank robbers pointed their guns around the place to make sure that nobody was attempting to do anything, while some got the bankers to fill up their bags with money. After the bags were filled up, the robbers began to leave the place and told everyone not to move until they were gone.

"Don't think you're leaving here so easily!" Sumireko said in her head with a smirk while slowly moving one hand. A faint purplish glow also appeared around it.

When the robbers approached the sliding door, it didn't open. One of them pounded the door, but it remained close. "What with this door? Is it broken?" he asked.

The robbers pounded against the door to try to get it to open, but it remained close. One of them fired his gun at the glass, but due to the glass being bulletproof, the bullets were unable to shatter it.

The robbers then saw police cars gathering outside the bank through the glass. "Argh! Use the back door!" suggested one of the robbers. They were going to turn to run when suddenly the sliding door fell over on top of two of them and pressed them against the floor. They tried to get back up, but it was as if something heavy was pressing against the door that they were unable to do so.

"Get this thing off me!" one of them shouted. Unknown to everyone, Sumireko was snickering as quietly as she could while moving her hand.

"Time for the finale!" she said in her head, and then she flicked her hand downward to cause the portion of the ceiling above the robbers to come crashing down on top of them. Needless to say, everyone else was surprised to see this.

Because the robbers weren't in the condition to get back up properly and run, the police were able to subdue them easily. Everyone was relieved that this issue was dealt with, though they wondered why the sliding door wouldn't open and why the ceiling suddenly collapsed without a warning.

"Doing good things always makes you feel good!" said Sumireko as she left the bank while dusting her hand.

While the robbers were being put into the police truck, Seija and Elis, who was wearing a sunhat, watched from not too far away. "I have to admit that things didn't happen the way I hope it would," said Seija. "Surprising, buuuuut… a bit disappointing."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Elis asked her. The amanojaku then whispered something into Elis's ear, and the vampire smiled and nodded in response. Then without care of people seeing them, they flew into the air and went after the police truck as it turned around the corner.

Elis out sped the truck and landed in front of it. The truck driver was shocked by her sudden appearance but had no time to stop or steer to the side. Stretching her arms forward, the vampire managed to stop the entire vehicle with little effort, causing it to tilt somewhat into the air and deploy the air bag as if it hit something hard.

The police cars that were accompanying the truck immediately stopped, and the policemen got down with their guns pointing at Elis. "Who are you?! What are you doing?!" one of them asked.

Ignoring the police, Elis tore off the truck door and pulled out the driver, flinging him onto the pavement. After popping the air bag with her claws due to it getting in the way, she started looking through the car cabinet for the key. "Stop what you're doing at once and put your hands up!" the same policeman shouted at her.

All of a sudden, some of the policemen found themselves flipped upside-down and was slammed against the pavement by their heads. The remaining policemen were shot in the back by arrow-shaped projectiles and fell over.

Seija, who attacked those police, landed next to Elis just as the latter found a set of keys and handed it to her. "You deal with those nuisances," she told the vampire, who gladly went to do so.

While Elis was slaying the policemen, Seija headed to the back of the truck to unlock it with one of the keys. The bank robbers were surprised when they saw that the door had been opened by a girl with small but visible horns. "Hello there!" she said to them. "Let's save the introductions for later. I'll just let you know that we're in for some fun if you agree to come with me!"

"Are you here to get us out?" one of them asked her.

"Why else would I be doing this?" she replied. "Just so you know, we're going to use this ride to get out of here, but I need someone who is capable of driving it, so if you really want to get out of here, would one of you please volunteer to be my driver?"

The robbers looked at each other, unsure about whether or not to trust her. One of them eventually stepped forward and said he would drive, so Seija used the set of keys to unlock his cuffs. Seija went into the back of the truck and closed the set of doors, while that robber went to the front of the truck to take the wheel. He was shocked to see dead bodies of policemen sprawled out all over the place when there.

"What are you looking at? Get on fast!" Elis told him. The robber got onto the driver's seat, while Elis took the seat next to him, and the former stepped on the gas pedal to zoom off.

* * *

Sanae was having a lot of fun at the department store. Fortunately for her, she brought a large amount of money. Shingyoku still told her to spend wisely, though.

"A photo booth!" said Sanae, pointing at one. "C'mon! Let's go in and take some pictures!" She then dragged Shingyoku into the booth and started taking pictures with him. Sanae made various poses and faces, but the gatekeeper maintained a still pose and a poker face the whole time. After the pictures were done taking, Sanae told him, "Change into your female form!"

"But I was told not to change into that form unless necessary," Shingyoku told her.

"Since there's nobody else in here, it's all right," Sanae told him. "Just change back after we're done. Also, make some faces and poses, will you? Pictures are no fun if you stand still or make expressionless faces."

Shingyoku changed into his female form, and then Sanae taught her some expressions and poses to make. However, when they started taking pictures, Shingyoku continued having a poker face, though she made victory signs this time.

After they were done taking photos, Sanae suggested that they go grab something to eat, so they went to a fast food joint.

"This is delicious!" said the wind priestess happily after taking a bite out of a hamburger. "They have hamburgers in Gensokyo as well, but the ones out here are the best!" She then asked Shingyoku, "Are you enjoying your time? How's the outside world so far?"

"I do not have any opinions regarding my experience in the outside world," replied the gatekeeper.

"C'mon! Cheer up! It should be fun! You've never experienced any of these things before!" Sanae told him. "I'll try to see if I can take you to more fun places. Let's see if I can get you to smile before we get back home!"

"I am more concerned about accomplishing the purpose we came here for," said Shingyoku.

"Don't worry; we'll definitely get that done," Sanae assured him. "We haven't heard anything from them yet, so let us enjoy ourselves until they made their move. Rest assure that I haven't forgotten our purpose here!"

* * *

The villains, after escaping the police, arrived at an old apartment located in an abandoned area. After parking the truck in an alley, they went into the apartment and into the room the robbers were staying at.

There, Seija and Elis introduced themselves to the robbers, but the latter didn't really believe what they told them. "You got any proof that you guys are not human?" asked one of the robbers.

"Horns and wings aren't convincing enough?" Seija asked him while pointing to one of her horns and grabbing one of Elis's wings, to which the latter responded by pulling her wing away from her as if she didn't like people grabbing it without her permission.

"Anyone can make themselves look like that with costumes," said another one of the robbers.

"Then how about I convince you with something like this?" said Seija before making the table flip upside-down with a flick of her hand and without making any contact with it. The robbers were, needless to say, surprised by this. "I'm sure you're now convinced that there are things out there that are supernatural. Things that look like they shouldn't exist and the like…"

"Okay, you've proven yourselves," said one of the robbers. "We're grateful that you rescued us, but why did you do so and what do you want? I have a feeling that you want something in return…"

"Oh, I'm not asking for anything in return," said Seija. "You see, we both saw you boys' failure of an attempt at robbing a bank. It's a shame that things didn't go as planned because of some s- door and ceiling. Hmmmm? I wonder if those things happened by chance or if someone was actually behind them? I'm not implying that we had anything to do with them, mind you…"

"Just get to the point!" said one of the robbers impatiently. He was a hot-headed one.

"Let's just say I think you deserve another chance at doing this sort of thing, and while you're at it, I'll teach you some ways you can make things… a lot more fun!" said Seija. "You guys did a good job, but you are lacking one thing."

"And what would that be?" asked a robber.

Smiling, Seija replied, "You're not putting enough effort into making yourself notable. What I mean is… breaking into places and telling everyone to stick up his or her hands is so old fashioned. Who is going to remember you for that, even if you successfully robbed the place? If you want to do something bad, do it in a way that people will always be able to remember you! Stand out from among the uncountable numbers of lawbreakers that exist in this world! Do something to make yourself shine! Become a celebrity among criminals! Show the world that you are different and make them afraid of you!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked one of them.

Seija looked at him and replied, "That is why I'm here to help you guys. Heeheehee!"

* * *

That night, Sanae and Shingyoku got themselves a cheap but comfortable inn to turn in for the night. "I can't believe they have such a wonderful place for such a low price!" said the former as she sat down on one of the beds.

Standing on one side of the room, Shingyoku said, "We have not accomplished anything resourceful today."

"Don't worry; we'll do that tomorrow," Sanae told him. "And by the way, can you change into your female form for the night? It's just that… even though we're not sleeping on the same bed… I feel strange sharing a room with a man… I feel better if it's a woman."

"Why is that?" asked Shingyouku.

"Well… Men and women unrelated by blood sleeping in the same room without undergoing marriage first is frowned upon…" said Sanae nervously. "We're not related to each other by blood, even though I told the receptionist that we are cousins… Just change into your female form, okay? It makes me feel more relaxed."

"As you wish," said Shingyoku before changing form.

"Okay! That's better!" said Sanae. "By the way, my favorite TV show is about to start!" She grabbed the remote and turned on the television, and the first thing she saw was the news channel.

"Eyewitnesses managed to capture this footage using their cell phones," said the news reporter before the scene changed to two people flying in the air. "More eyewitnesses claim that they stopped the truck containing the bank robbers and killed all the policemen accompanying it. After that, they freed one of the prisoners so that he could drive the truck to escape."

After that particular news report was finished, Sanae said in shock, "That… That was Seija just now! It's definitely her!"

"The convict Elis was also there with her," said Shingyoku. "It appears that they have made their move."

"I didn't expect them to make their move this fast…" said Sanae. "I wonder why Seija would rescue those bank robbers, though. She probably wants henchmen."

"Now that they have made their move, what is our next course of action?" Shingyoku asked her.

"Let's see if we can find out more from newspapers tomorrow," said Sanae. "It seems that we missed out a portion of the news, so let's wait until we can find out more first. We'll definitely find out where they are and capture them!"

* * *

Sumireko saw the same news at her house. "This sure isn't something you see every day around here…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Reversed and Insane

**SBS Time!  
Cody the Wordwalker:** Poor Sanae did not get to watch her anime…  
 **Game2002:** Sanae got to watch it after the news report.

 **Chapter 4  
Reversed and Insane**

* * *

The next morning, Sanae and Shinygyoku, while eating breakfast at a café near the hotel they stayed at, looked into the bank robbery incident yesterday. The former, sporting a different hairstyle in the form of a ponytail, read through a newspaper containing an article on the robbery.

"This is what we will do," said Sanae without looking up from the paper. "We will go to that bank after we're done with breakfast. Because those robbers were rescued by Seija and Elis not very far from that place, it's likely that those two were present there. Why else would they decide to rescue those robbers for no reason? They must've seen them robbing the bank and thought that they would become good underlings or something like that."

"What are we to do once we go to that place?" asked Shingyoku.

"Fortunately, I found a video of the footage of those two flying using my smartphone," said Sanae, showing the gatekeeper her mobile phone. "We'll show this to the people there and ask if they have seen anyone looking like these two. Perhaps we'll be able to find out something from this and then later decide on what to do. Sounds like a good plan to me!"

"You know your way around this place, so I will let you come up with plans," said Shingyoku.

"You can leave everything to me!" said Sanae with confidence.

* * *

Things were back to normal in the bank that was previously robbed by those robbers. People went about doing business in that place like such a thing never happened.

The peace was shattered when gunfire was heard. Everyone turned to the door but saw nobody coming in. Instead, the robbers came in from the backdoor, one of them firing at the ceiling while doing so.

Everyone in the bank either screamed or ducked for cover from possible gunfire. The guard pointed his gun at the robbers, but before he could pull the trigger, Elis dashed at him and caught him by the hand and then twisted it to make him drop the gun.

While everyone was in panic, Seija jumped on top of the counter and said out loud in a cheerful-sounding voice with her arms spread out to the side, "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! It's such a pleasure to see all your horrified faces this morning! I bet none of you are expecting this to happen again after what happened yesterday?" She then waved one finger. "Guess again! These folks you thought were brought to justice are back again!"

She pointed her hands at the bank robbers, who gave her strange stares. "Hey guys! Cheer up!" Seija told them. "Isn't it great to be able to be back on stage again?"

"Can we just get to the point?" one of them asked.

"You guys are impatient, aren't you?" Seija asked him. "There's no fun if we rush things, but I suppose I can understand that, what with security being much tighter than it is compared to where I come from. Well, let's get on with the show, shall we?"

The amanojaku got down from the counter and walked towards the people, who backed away from her when she approached them. "As most of you people know, this place held some unpleasant memories because of what happened yesterday," she said. "Coincidentally, I happen to be in this very place that time. Now let me ask some of you a question: how many of you were here when that happened?" She looked around to see if she could get answers, but nobody raised their hands in response. "Oh, either everyone here is a new face or they're just too shy to admit it. Let me ask you this instead: you came here for money, right?"

She looked around for responses, but when she once again got none, she turned to one of the robbers and told her to toss over her gun. The amanojaku caught the gun and then fired it at the ceiling to scare the people before asking the same question. Scared, many of them replied that they indeed came here to do money-related businesses. She tossed the gun back to that robber after that.

Seija shook her head slowly. "Money, money, money… I've read about how the world out here is obsessed with money, about how it's what makes the world go around. I can understand the importance of it, because at where I come from, they use money as well. However, if you think money is truly the only thing that people in this world cares about, think again."

As she was saying this, she approached a nearby desk that had some papers and pens, and she picked up one of the latter and observed it. "Have you ever asked yourself this question? Is money truly more important than life? They say that money is one of the roots of evil, as wherever there is money, there is bound to be crime. They think that money is the answer to everything in the world. I'm not against people thinking that or taking pleasure in nothing but money, but to some people, committing crime is about becoming immersed in the sense of pleasure and excitement it gives! Sometimes, they feel like they simply have to do something that is against the law."

She then walked around the place with the pen in her hand. "Take me for example. It is the nature of who I am to go against the law and to do things that other people don't like. I commit crimes and cause trouble because it is in my nature to do such things, and also because it's fun! Therefore, I'm going to…" When she got close to a random person, she stabbed him in the side of the neck with it without a warning. "Kill someone just because I can!"

The sight of this caused the people to be horrified, and screams filled the place. As the man lied dying on the floor, Seija looked at the pen and said, "Oh, this isn't for stabbing people? Eh, who cares?"

While everyone was in panic at what they saw, she turned to the robbers and said, "C'mon, my friends! Fire away! Let the party noisemakers go wild! Fill this place with excitement!"

The bank robbers looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions, and when Elis told them to fire in a fierce tone, they started firing their guns all over the place, shooting down various people. Seija flew into the air and got into a resting position with one arm supporting her head while watching the killing going on down there with a large smile.

She then floated over to one of the robbers and said to him, "Did you record everything with that camera of yours?"

"Yeah, I recorded everything," he told her.

"Then leave it here for the cops to see and broadcast to the public!" Seija said as she took it from him. "By the way, is this thing still running?"

"Yeah…" he told her.

Seija then pointed the camera at herself and smiled and waved at it. "Hey there! Did you folks see all that? Just so you know, things are only going to get a lot wilder from here on out! I'm going to show this world a kind of madness it may not have witnessed before! You must be really excited to see what I have in store, right?" Noticing a dying person next to her, she bent down next to him, picked him up by the head, and asked him, "Are you excited to see what sort of chaos I'm going to cause next?"

She then moved that person's mouth by herself and said in a deeper-sounding voice, "I'm very excited!"

Seija then switched to her normal voice. "Hahaha! Then look forward to it! Or maybe not." She then twisted the person's neck before turning to the camera. "My name is Seija Kijin! Remember this name well, because I'm going to make you all go frustrated and scared every time you hear it! Yahahahahaha!"

Police cars showed up outside the bank, and the robbers that were busy looting from the vault the whole time Seija was making her speech came and said that they must run now. "Looks like I have to go! Look forward to more! Bye-bye!" Seija said to the camera before leaving the place with the others. Before she left, she hastily wrote a message saying " _Play me_ " on a piece of paper and then put the digital camera on top of it before leaving.

The villains rushed back into the police truck they stole the previous day and drove off as fast as they could. Sitting at the back of the truck, Seija laughed and then asked the robbers, "Did you guys enjoyed my speech? Or were you too busy stealing stuff? Not saying it's a bad thing, mind you…"

"We stole a lot thanks to you! This completely makes up for what happened yesterday!" said one of them.

"It's not over yet! The real fun has only begun! Now that the people out there have gotten a glimpse of us, let's show them what more we are capable of!" said Seija. "Get ready for the next big event, guys! We're going to become celebrities by the end of today!"

"What do you have in mind next?" one of the robbers asked her.

Seija placed a finger underneath her chin and thought for a while before saying, "Honestly saying, I haven't thought of one yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something fun to do soon."

* * *

Sanae and Shingyoku arrived at the bank not too long after the police arrived at that place to investigate. After learning from one of the people there what happened, the wind priestess said in horror, "How terrible… I can't believe such a thing happened…"

"We have arrived too late…" said Shingyoku.

As she was saying that, a policeman came out of the bank with a digital camera and said to the police captain, "Sir, this camera appears to have been left behind by the robbers. It contains a recorded video of what they did."

"Then go play it," suggested the police captain.

"Excuse me, sir," Sanae said to the police captain when she heard what they said, "can we take a look at the video as well? I'm curious about what message those robbers left behind."

"We'll show it to the public after we've looked through it, so have patience, girl," the police captain told her before telling that policeman to get to work with the camera.

Sanae sighed and said, "Why must they always do things this way…? Can't a normal citizen offer any help? Not that we're exactly normal people…"

"I can sense faint magical energy coming from the back part of this building," Shingyoku told her.

"What do you mean?" asked the wind priestess.

"While in my male form, I have strong magical and spiritual abilities, and sensing magical energies is one of the things I am capable of," explained Shingyoku. "Let us go to the source first, and I will explain to you in detail."

The two made their way to the back of the bank, where they also found policemen, as they had been told that the robbers parked their ride there. "Seija and Elis's magical energy is coming from here," said Shingyoku. "It is already gone, but I can still sense whether or not someone with magical power was once here."

"Really?" said Sanae.

"I can also tell which direction they have gone to," said Shingyoku. "We will need to move fast, as the energy left behind will soon disappear, and we will be unable to track them."

"I'll leave it to you, then!" Sanae said to him.

"Please wait," said Shingyoku before closing his eyes to concentrate on sensing the energy. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and looked in a certain direction. "They have gone in that direction. The energy is growing fainter, so we must act fast."

"C'mon! Let's go!" said Sanae, and then she followed Shingyoku.

* * *

A bus filled with cheerleaders was driving down a part of the street that didn't have that many other vehicles. As the driver busied himself with which way to go, the female cheerleaders were happily doing practice for the sports game they were going to.

All of a sudden, Elis dropped down in front of the bus and, using only her bare hands, stopped the entire thing, causing more or less everyone inside to fall forward from the sudden halt.

Seija then approached the door with two robbers, both of whom were armed with guns, and knocked on it with a wicked-looking smile on her face.

* * *

Shingyoku and Sanae did their best following the invisible trail of magical energy, but in the end, the former said that the energy had vanished. "I am sorry," he said. "The energy was faint to begin with, so it vanished in a short amount of time. I am afraid that I am unable to track them down any longer."

"It's all right," said Sanae. "At least we know the general direction they headed in. Let's look around this place and see if we can find out anything."

They happened to be standing outside a television store, and some of the televisions were broadcasting the same news report. "The bank robbers left behind a message using a digital camera," said the reporter. "We will now show it to you, but please be warned, as it contains graphical scenes."

They both heard this and so turned to one of the televisions to see a video of Seija making her speech at the bank and the massacre that happened afterwards. Sanae was horrified at what she saw, especially the part where the amanojaku "played" with a dying man. "This is terrible…" she commented.

"Their evilness knows no bounds…" said Shingyoku. "They must be stopped before more innocents are harmed!"

"Definitely!" agreed Sanae. "If only we know where they are at the moment…"

Just then, they heard some screaming and shouting, so they turned and saw some people in the distance pointing at something that was concealed by buildings in shock.

* * *

The bus containing the cheerleaders was on top of a ten-story tall building, leaning halfway off the roof. Behind the bus, Elis was holding onto its back to make sure that it wouldn't fall off, while the robbers stood around her.

Inside, the cheerleaders and the driver were struck with fear and at the mercy of Seija, who was pouring gasoline onto the floor and on the people. "Cheer up! Aren't you people supposed to be called cheerleaders for a reason?" she asked them. "You should be glad that you are helping me become famous around here! It's such an honor to be able to have some sort of relation with someone who will one day be a celebrity out here!"

After she was done pouring gasoline, she threw the container aside and said, "Let me go through with you all again about what I'm going to do." She then took out a lighter and said, "See this lighter here? As you all know, oil and fire mix with each other very well, so well that they go off with a bang! While you lot are happily playing with fire, my friends out there will give your ride a big push off the roof and towards the ground below, where you will go… go… Honestly saying, I've never seen something big on fire hitting the ground from a huge height before, so this is the perfect opportunity to witness something like this!"

"Why are you doing this?!" one of the cheerleaders asked with a face full of tears.

Seija turned to her and replied, "Three reasons: the first is to publicize my little group so that we will become the hot topic of the century, the second is because it's fun, and the third is the reason I gave earlier, to see what it's like for something big and burning to hit the ground."

"You're insane!" one of them angrily shouted at her.

"Oh, I'm not insane, I'm just doing what people with the right mind usually wouldn't do," said Seija. "Thinking about it, maybe that is considered insanity... So yeah, I'm insane!" Then she laughed in a psychotic manner before leaving the bus.

Floating outside the door, she tried to light up the lighter while saying, "It's been nice knowing you people. I hope you fondly remember me at wherever you're going after this!"

Seija was having a hard time trying to get the lighter to light up, but despite this, everyone in the bus was crying and screaming in horror, as they believed that their doom was going to happen sooner or later.

Suddenly, something hit the bus from below and lifted it into the air, surprising Seija and those behind it. It was Shingyoku in her female form, lifting the bus into the air and then turning it to the side so that it was entirely on top of the building and in no danger of falling off. Placing the bus onto the floor, she turned to the surprised robbers and Elis and said, "Your acts of evil shall end here!"

"You actually came all the way out here to look for me?!" asked Elis in shock.

"She's not the only one here!" said Sanae as she landed next to Elis. "We're here to bring you people to justice! That was evil of you to want to burn those innocent people in the bus alive! I will never let you get away with this!"

Shingyoku and Sanae heard Seija speaking, so they turned around to face her. "I was expecting that someone from Gensokyo would come and look for us sooner or later," said the amanojaku. "I was expecting the gender-confused gatekeeper, but I honestly had no idea that the shrine maiden from that mountain shrine would show up. I was expecting Reimu instead."

"I came from the outside world, so I have better knowledge of this place and thus came to look for you!" Sanae told her.

"I guess it makes sense," said Seija.

"Give up now!" Sanae said while pointing at her using her wand. "Come back with us to Gensokyo quietly, or else we will use force on you!"

"Me coming quietly with you? This shows that you have no experience in dealing with me, which is also why Reimu is a lot more interesting than you!" said Seija with an evil grin, and then she let out a sigh before shrugging and slowly shaking her head. "Too bad she's not here, so I guess I'll have to make do with you instead."

"Don't worry; I'll be sure not to disappoint you!" Sanae told her.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The story isn't ending yet. We're in the "middle."

Also, the bus got to the top of the building because Elis lifted it there.

Lastly, the cheerleader bus part is inspired by the second episode of the second season of the TV show Gotham.


	5. First Fight of the Outside World

**SBS Time!  
M.G: **In Strive for Easiness Again, how did Dr. Blak find out where all the yukkuris went?  
 **Game2002:** He just did. That's all you need to know.

 **Chapter 5  
First Fight of the Outside World**

* * *

Sanae and Shingyoku watched as Seija floated over to Elis and the robbers. "Well boys, looks like things didn't go as planned because of the appearance of these people," Seija said to them.

"Who are they?" asked one of the robbers.

"Just some do-gooders from where I come from," replied the amanojaku.

Elis stepped forward and said, "You guys watch. I'll get rid of them both in no time!"

"You think you can do well under the sun, even with a hat?" Seija asked her.

"Don't underestimate me!" Elis told her before charging at Shingyoku at a fast speed. The latter responded by bringing up her arms to block a claw thrust from her. "Let's finish things here!"

"I will defeat you and bring you back!" Shingyoku told her.

"You're bringing nothing but your own dead body back!" said Elis before swinging her claws at the gatekeeper fast and several times, but the latter managed to block them.

While those two were fighting, Sanae stepped towards Seija and the robbers and said, "I'll deal with the lot of you!"

"Pretty brave, aren't you?" said Seija with her hands at the back of her head while floating a few inches above the floor.

"Don't underestimate me! I've resolved incidents in Gensokyo alongside Reimu and Marisa a few times already! I'm no pushover!" said the wind priestess.

"Then try to entertain me as much as Reimu!" said Seija, and then she told the robbers to shoot her, and they did.

Acting quick, Sanae formed a wall of wind around herself that caused the bullets to swerve past her when they came in contact with it. "Why aren't our bullets hitting her?!" one of the robbers asked, unaware of what was happening.

"Sky Serpent!" Sanae shouted as she stretched forth her wand to fire projectiles in the shape of white snakes at the robbers, blasting them onto the floor.

Seeing that the robbers were all down, Seija sighed and then said, "I was expecting this to happen…"

"You should've known better than to think normal humans would be of help to you!" Sanae said to her. "Why did you even rescue them in the first place?"

"Pitied them, you can say," replied Seija, "but that's not important. Are you going to stand there and talk about why I rescued people like them in the first place when doing bad things is what I do for a living?"

"Guess not…" said Sanae. "Well, let's get sta…" Before she could finish speaking, she was struck in the back by arrow-shaped projectiles and fell forward. "AH!"

"Reimu would've saw that coming!" said Seija, who had her hand raised slightly.

"Not fair! Not giving a warning before doing something!" Sanae angrily said as she stood back up. She then used Sky Serpent against her. Seija avoided them by flipping upside-down into the air. The projectiles went after her, however, but by moving her finger in a u-shaped motion, they turned around and hit the floor.

While those two fought, Elis and Shingyoku were engaged in an aggressive battle of trading blows and firing projectiles against each other. During the midst of trading blows up close, the latter managed to remove Elis's sunhat, causing her to become exposed to the sun. Crying in pain, Elis attempted to cover her head using her arms and then flew off the building before crashing through a window of the lower floor.

Shingyoku was going to give chase, but Elis's hand suddenly broke through the part of the floor underneath her and grabbed her leg to pull it down. Shingyoku tried to push herself up to pull her leg out, though she ended up punching the floor so hard that a large hole was created and she fell to the lower floor instead.

Elis backed away from the sunlight coming down from the hole and fired energy blades at the gatekeeper by swinging her claws, but the latter dodged them by moving away.

Changing into her male form, Shingyoku clapped his hands to form yin-yang orbs made of energy appear around him. They flew at the vampire, and when she dodged them, they went after her, so she had to destroy them with energy blades.

Elis then picked up a nearby table and flung it at Shingyoku, who responded by instantly changing into his female form to shatter it into pieces with a punch. She caught the table leg while it was still in the air and threw it at Elis like a spear. The vampire avoided it, and the leg embedded into the wall.

Elis dashed at Shingyoku with her claws glowing brightly, and when she swung them, she left behind a crescent-shaped energy in the air, and this move managed to scar Shingyoku's arm, causing her to grunt in pain. Elis immediately attempted to slam the claws of her other hand into her abdomen, but Shingyoku caught it and, grabbing hold of both her hands, flipped the vampire into the air and slammed her onto the floor on her back.

While on top of the vampire, Shingyoku pulled back her fist and then punched Elis's face so hard that the floor around them cracked and broke, causing them to fall to the lower floor. Elis seemingly passed out from the punch to the face, so Shingyoku lowered her guard, thinking she won. However, she was stabbed in the body by Elis's claws when the vampire woke up unexpectedly.

The gatekeeper backed away in pain with her hand over her wound, and then Elis forcefully pushed her by the neck against the wall. Grinning evilly, Elis used the claws of her other hand to stab Shingyoku in the body over and over mercilessly.

Shingyoku endured the pain as she reached her hand to Elis's head and, after grabbing it tightly, twisted it. The vampire instantly stopped what she was doing and fell to the floor as if dead. The gatekeeper fell to the floor while grunting in pain. She turned to the vampire to see her lying motionlessly on the floor, but then she slowly got back up and readjusted her neck. Glaring angrily at Shingyoku, she said, "That hurts, b****!"

* * *

She then threw herself at Shingyoku, and both sides continued fighting each other intensely.

The people inside the bus watched in amazement at Sanae and Seija fighting each other. They had never seen something like that before and wondered how it was possible that they were doing what they were doing—flying around and shooting things out of seemingly nothing.

Sanae and Seija traded projectiles against each other. The former was eventually able to hit Seija with a blast of wind that pushed her towards the bus, hitting the side of it hard.

Seija fell to the floor and chuckled a bit before saying, "You sure managed to put up a better fight than I thought you would! Still, there's something about you that makes you not as interesting as Reimu."

"And what would that be?" Sanae asked her.

"Hmmm… Attitude, I think?" replied the amanojaku. "Yeah, it's definitely that. Something about your attitude makes you less interesting than her."

"What's wrong with my attitude?" Sanae asked her.

"Well, Reimu and I have been going at it with each other for so long that she's starting to become fed up with me. It's that frustrated face of her that I enjoy seeing!" said Seija. "Yes, that's what you are lacking! The rage and frustration that you have when you face me! You're lacking those! It's understandable, considering that you haven't really faced me before, so you don't understand what's so frustrating and annoying about me."

"Well, that's true…" said Sanae. "But what is it about your opponent being frustrated that makes you happy? Does it make a difference?"

Seija chuckled and said, "Clearly you do not know the pleasure of taunting your opponents and making them feel like they are having the worst day of their life! Whenever I fight someone, I expect them to come at me with all their rage and frustration! The annoyed faces full of hatred towards me! Oh yes! How I love it when people hate me and want to murder me! Whenever I tangle with Reimu, she has that kind of expression on her face, the face of someone who is so fed up with me that she wants to destroy me once and for all! That's the kind of face I like about her!"

"You're crazy…" commented Sanae.

"Heeheehee! I do behave in ways that people usually don't after all!" said Seija.

"Hate to break your bubble, but I'm a more optimistic person than Reimu," Sanae told her, "so I'm fighting you with confidence and a smile on my face, knowing that I can without a doubt beat you! You like doing things the opposite of what people want, right? Then I'll give you a taste of your own medicine by doing the opposite of what you want!"

"Oh, you think playing the same game as me will frustrate me?" asked Seija. "Smart move! However, I'll let you know that nobody will ever beat me in my own game!"

The amanojaku turned around to face the bus and pointed her hands at it. Slowly lifting up her arms, she caused the bus to float into the air. Seeing this, Sanae asked in surprise, "What are you doing?!"

"Making you angry, that's what!" replied Seija before making the bus flip upside-down, causing the people inside to scream. She then slammed the bus against the floor in that position before lifting it into the air again.

"Hey! Stop that at once!" Sanae angrily shouted at her. "Leave those people alone! This is between the two of us!"

"Getting mad, are you? Good! That's what I like!" said Seija before lifting the bus into the air and flipping it right-side-up, only to flip it upside-down again and then slamming it onto the floor a second time.

"I told you to stop at once!" Sanae angrily shouted before throwing paper amulets at her. The amulets struck Seija in the back and exploded, causing the bus to fall down, still in an upside-down position.

"That's exactly the kind of attitude I want to see!" said Seija happily. "C'mon! Get angry at me more! Hate me more, especially after what I'm about to do next!" She thrust her hand in the direction of the bus, causing an invisible force to push it right off the building.

"OH NO!" gasped Sanae.

The people inside the bus screamed as the bus fell towards the pavement, and the onlookers down below were also screaming, not to mention running away from underneath it.

The bus was about to hit the pavement, but it stopped a few inches above it all of a sudden for about a second before hitting it. Because of the sudden halt, there was no impact, so the bus wasn't damaged nor was anyone inside actually hurt.

The people were surprised that nothing happened to the bus, and then they crowded around it and tried to help those inside get out.

Standing at the sidewalk, Sumireko was sweating heavily while having her hands pointed at the bus. "Phew… That was close… Crisis averted…" She then looked up at the building and said to herself, "I think I better go up there to see what's happening…"

At the top, Sanae was looking at the bus and was relieved to see that it was still in one piece. "Phew… Thanks goodness nothing happened to it… What a miracle!" She was suddenly lifted into the air by an invisible force. "Hey!"

"Now you understand why people get frustrated when they face me?" the amanojaku asked her. "That's because I enjoy making those who have nothing to do with things get involved!"

"You monster!" Sanae angrily said to her.

"Literally!" said Seija with an evil grin. She was suddenly hit in the side of the body by a pink laser beam and blasted onto the floor, causing Sanae to be freed from her telekinesis-like grip.

The wind priestess turned to see her savior and saw Sumireko standing at the edge of the roof. "Hope I helped the right person…" said the psychic.

'Thanks..." said Sanae, unsure about what to think of her.

Seija got back up and said, "Well, looks like another player has joined the fray! Let's hope you are aware of what you've gotten yourself into!"

The floor suddenly burst open, and Elis and Shingyoku both came out. The former cried in pain from being exposed to the sun while using her arms to cover herself. Getting a better look at both Seija and Shingyoku, Sumireko said to herself, "Yep, they look like the ones in the news, so it looks like I didn't help the wrong person."

Suddenly, the door leading to the rooftop was slammed open, and heavily armed policemen rushed out of it. "Hands up and don't move!" one of them shouted while pointing at them with his machine gun.

Everyone froze and looked at them, wondering what to do next. "Psst! Is that woman over there with horns your friend?" Sumireko asked Sanae. She tried to avoid speaking too loud so that the policemen wouldn't hear her. Sanae nodded in response. "All right, let's get close to each other. We're getting out of here!"

"How?" asked Sanae.

Growling in anger, Elis flew at Seija without a word, grabbed the amanojaku, and zoomed off the building at a fast speed. "Don't move!" shouted the same policeman, and then the police all fired at them.

Using this as an opportunity, Sumireko ran at Sanae and then went to Shingyoku fast to grab her arm. Purplish-pink aura surrounded them all, and then they disappeared.

"Wha?! How did they disappear into thin air?!" asked a policeman who saw what happened in shock.

"The two that flew off disappeared into a building in the distance…" said another one.

"At least we got these guys," said another policeman while looking at the bank robbers just as they were getting back up.

* * *

Sumireko, Sanae, and Shingyoku reappeared at the bottom of the building. "C'mon, let's go somewhere far from here," the former told the two.

"Thanks for the help, but who are you?" Sanae asked her.

"Call me Sumireko, but we'll save the details for later," she told her. "C'mon, let's move fast!" Then she led the way deeper into the alley.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED


	6. Sealing Club

**SBS Time!  
FlutterChaos: **Seija acts like Heath Ledger's Joker.  
 **Game2002:** I based her personality off the Joker in general for my series, committing crime and doing terrible things simply for laughs, or in her words, because it is her nature to do so.

 **Chapter 6  
Sealing Club**

* * *

Sumireko brought Sanae and Shingyoku into a room that was relatively dark due to dark-colored curtains that decorated the walls. Other than the usual pieces of furniture such as chairs and tables, there were also some peculiar stuff, such as a fake panda that was large enough to be ridden on, a purple human skull and the skull of a horned animal placed on a table, some crystal orbs placed on another table, etc.

"What is this place?" asked Sanae while looking around.

"This is the headquarters of the Sealing Club," replied Sumireko. "Here, we dedicate ourselves to investigating paranormal activities, urban legends, and anything that is considered plain weird and unexplainable."

"Wow… I knew that there are people out here who are into this sort of thing, but I didn't expect to actually run into one…" said Sanae.

"Not many people nowadays believe in supernatural stuff…" said Sumireko. "Truth be told, this club only has three people. The other two are usually busy with their college life, so they don't come here often.

"By the way, you have powers of some kind, right?" Sanae asked her.

"Yep! Psychic powers!" said Sumireko while showing off her power by making her hat levitate away from her head and onto a hat rack. "So… what's your story? It's not every day that we run across people with powers like you out here."

"It looks like you have no issue believing anything, so I guess you won't be surprised by what I am about to tell you," said Sanae.

"Before that, let me guess where you come from," Sumireko said to her while holding up her hand to stop her from saying anything else. "Let me guess: you come from Gensokyo, right?"

Widening her eyes in surprise, Sanae asked, "You know Genoskyo?! How did you know that we come from there?!"

"First, I've been there before, and second, I had a feeling that you came from there when you said 'people out here,'" replied Sumireko.

"You've been to Gensokyo before?!" asked Sanae, even more surprised.

"Yeah, though I can't say the experience is all that pleasant…" said Sumireko. "Almost lost my life while there and got into quite a bit of trouble with the locals there… I tried going there when I learned about that place's existence, but I couldn't find a way to do so properly, as every method I tried resulted in me coming back out after a while. One of your inhabitants ended up bringing me into Gensokyo for real, and I can't say I enjoyed my time there…"

Suddenly, Sanae was reminded of something. "I get it now! You're the one behind that occult orb incident, right? I heard about that!"

"Yep, that's me!" replied the psychic, sounding proud.

"Wow! I didn't expect to run into you!" said Sanae. "When I heard that an outsider made her way into Gensokyo, I wanted to see her, but never got the chance to…"

"Well, you're looking at her now!" Sumireko told her.

* * *

Seija and Elis returned to the apartment room the bank robbers lived in. Slamming the door close behind her, Elis said in frustration, "Well, things sure went splendidly! I think this publicizing idea of yours attracted unnecessary attention!"

"I'm not a vampire, working within the shadows and whatnot," Seija told her while taking a seat. "At least we managed to give the people out there a good scare and show them what we are capable of!"

"If it were me, I would've done something like going for the country's leader, killing him, and then making myself the leader," said Elis. "That's a much easier and faster way of getting everything you want. Furthermore, it was a ridiculous idea to recruit normal humans to help us. Like hell are they going to be of any use!"

"It's true that normal humans are hardly any use for the most part, but there are times when they are capable of performing amazing feats that make even those with powers tremble with fear," said Seija. "Gensokyo managed to get a glimpse of such a person before, and boy, did he manage to leave behind a mark!"

"Eh, whatever…" said Elis. "Now what do we do? Those two obviously won't leave us alone until they bring us back to Gensokyo."

"Yeah, they are a problem," said Seija. "Dealing with those two with just the two of us probably isn't enough. We may need a bigger army if we want to get rid of them."

"Where are we going to get help in this kind of place? And other than humans, who is going to help us?" asked Elis.

"Didn't I just tell you that not all humans are useless?" Seija asked her. "A few humans may not be of much help, but you know what they say about there being power in numbers."

"Where are we going to find a large amount of people who are willing to help us?" Elis asked her.

Raising one finger, Seija said, "Patience, my friend. I should be able to find a good location for this by the end of today!"

* * *

Seeing that it was five in the evening on her watch, Sumireko said, "Look at the time… Gotta go home now… You guys make yourself feel at home here. There's a room over there for taking naps, so you can sleep there. I'll come to you tomorrow, and I'll also try to help you find out where those two went in the meantime."

"Thanks for the help!" Sanae told her.

"See you tomorrow, then!" said Sumireko. "Oh, here's the key to this place. I'm sure you'll want to go outside to buy yourself dinner and then come back. Be sure to lock the door when you leave and when you turn in for the night! By the way, you'll have to use the public bath if you want to take a bath."

"You don't have to worry about us," Sanae told her. "Be on your way back home now."

They said good-bye to each other, and then Sumireko left the place. Turning to Shingyoku, she said to her, "How about we go outside and grab something to eat, not to mention taking a stroll around the place? Some places are more crowded and exciting while it is nighttime."

"Are you sure it is all right that we do not look for where Seija and Elis went to?" Shingyoku asked her.

"Trust me; I'm as worried as you about them, but if we have no lead regarding them, there's nothing we can do," Sanae told her. "I'm sure they'll be laying a low profile after what happened today for a while."

"You sure are very carefree about this," said a voice. They both turned to see that a gap had appeared, and Yukari was in it.

"Yukari! How did you know we're here?" Sanae asked her.

"I told you I would be keeping an eye on you, so I know where you are," Yukari told her without going into details. "Had you taken things more seriously, what happened today might not have happened."

"We don't have any leads, so we aren't sure what to do until they made a move," Sanae told her. "I do admit that I got too carried off, though…"

"I expect someone who helped solved incidents in Gensokyo and someone who grew up here to do better than this," said Yukari, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Then what do you suggest me to do?" Sanae asked her. "We don't have any leads regarding where they are right now. You can't expect us to go on a wild goose chase, can you?"

"Doing something is better than doing nothing, but if you insist on waiting for them to make a move first, then do whatever you want," Yukari told her. "As long as they're not causing trouble, it should be fine, though it's better to go after them while they're not doing anything."

"If you're so worried, why don't you lend a hand? I'm sure this will be resolved easily if we have your help," Sanae told her.

"Like I said, I don't see this as something that really needs my involvement," Yukari told her, "and before you get into stuff about my lack of concern for other people and not taking things seriously myself, let me remind you that I am not and have never been a saint. I'm a demon that has human flesh as part of her diet. Does that sound like someone who would care about the wellbeing of others?"

Sanae thought about what she said and figured that she had a point.

"Just because I do good sometimes doesn't mean I'm a do-gooder," continued Yukari. "I don't go around helping people because I want to. I may even see someone in trouble and choose not to help him simply for the reason that I don't feel like doing so. If it's something that doesn't concern or benefit me, I may choose not to do something about it."

"You're making yourself sound like you've unwillingly forced yourself to help us in this…" commented Sanae.

"I simply don't want the problems of Gensokyo to get tangled up with the outside world," said Yukari. "Anyway, it's not like I don't care about this current problem at all. Remember that I am keeping an eye on things, so I will do something if I think things are getting way too out of hand, so rest assure that you have my support in one way or the other."

"Somehow, you don't sound very assuring…" said Sanae.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll try to find out where they are for you so that you know how to get started," Yukari told her. "Sumireko is helping you as well, right? I got to know her when she came to Gensokyo, and her dedication towards this kind of thing should make her a great ally."

"As long as it will help us accomplish our task, we gladly appreciate it," Shingyoku told her.

"It's better than nothing, so thanks!" Sanae said to the demon of boundaries.

"Wait for my answer, then, assuming I can find them," said Yukari before closing the gap.

After that, Shingyoko said to Sanae, "We now have assistance. This shows that Miss Yakumo does indeed care, does she not?"

"I may not know her as much as Reimu does, but something tells me that this 'help' won't be all that useful…" said Sanae, not sounding hopeful. "Anyway, want to go out to grab a bite?"

* * *

Unsurprisingly, all that happened during the daytime made its way to the news. Seija and Elis watched the news report, which not only reported about their antics, but also that the bank robbers they recruited were arrested and taken to Fuchu Prison.

Pointing at the television with one hand, Seija said to Elis, "See? We made the headlines!"

"Are you happy with things now?" the vampire asked her.

"This is only the beginning. A lot more will have to happen before I'm satisfied with things!" replied the amanojaku. "These folks have only gotten a small taste of what we're capable of! We're going to show them that we are capable of something even bigger! I think I may have an idea on what our next action should be!"

"What do you have in mind?" Elis asked her.

Smiling evilly, Seija replied, "We're going to pay our unfortunate friends a visit first. After that, I've decided to make the place they currently call home our base of operations!"

"What do you mean?" Elis asked her, to which Seija responded by looking at her and snickering.

"This just in: a group of gangsters have been rounded up for getting into a violent bar fight," continued the news reporter, causing Seija to turn to the television. "Before the law enforcers arrived, they managed to take the lives of five people." Seeing that news report, another idea formed in her head.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter… I procrastinated too much, and before I knew it, several days have already passed, so I decided to wrap things up with whatever I managed to churn out before the end of today.

Shingyoku probably doesn't look like s/he's getting much spotlight so far. I assure you, however, that everything will be pretty much about her in the third act of the story, which is coming soon. Please look forward to it!

The other two members of the Sealing Club are, needless to say, Maribel and Renko. Since the relationship between Renko and Sumireko is currently unknown, I'm going to leave it unrevealed in my series as well.

 **Trivia:**  
1\. ZUN said in an interview once that he feels that in Touhou fighting games, it is important for characters who have never been playable before to be playable. Because of this, all those who didn't make the transition from 12.3 to 13.5 will likely never be playable again. The same will hold true to those who did not return in a new fighting game. Reimu and Marisa are not affected by this "rule" due to them being the main characters. He also said that certain characters cannot become playable due to certain circumstances regarding them. For example, Eirin prefers to observe rather than fight and Flandre cannot leave her basement.


	7. Masters of the Prison

**Note:** To people who are expecting state of the art storytelling, **don't** expect such a thing. I am not an expert in writing stories. I have not taken literary class. I more or less taught myself how to write stories. Because of this, I still consider myself miles away from being the kind of person who can publish stories for profit. I am not expecting anything I write to be worthy of Oscar Awards or whatever award they give to literatures. I only want to write stories that people can understand and find some sort of enjoyment in.

If you come to my stories expecting epics like the Lord of the Rings, Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey, etc., prepare to be heavily disappointed. Please read my stories with the mindset that it's something not too badly done for someone who writes fan fictions for fun. If you want to, see them as low budget but enjoyable movies.

 **Chapter 7  
Masters of the Prison**

* * *

The police truck carrying the gangsters who started a fight at the bar was on its way to Fuchu Prison, which was located in the outskirts of Tokyo.

Unknown to them, Elis and Seija had been secretly following them from the sky. Because it was nighttime, nobody noticed the pair flying up there. They quietly followed the truck as it made its way out of Tokyo's vicinity. When they saw that the truck was heading in the direction of a building with spotlights, Seija said, "Guess that's the place they're heading to."

"Does that mean it's our time to act?" Elis asked her.

"I don't see any reason to delay things, so go ahead and do your thing!" Seija told her.

"You sure you want to do this?" the vampire asked her.

"Trust me; I'm excited to get started with this!" the amanojaku told her.

Elis let out a shrug and then swooped towards the truck at a fast speed to do her job.

* * *

Wanting to do her best to help Sanae and Shingyoku, Sumireko was looking around the internet for any news on Seija and Elis. While there were several websites talking about the incident during the day, none of them provided information on where those two went. She also chatted with the other two members of the Sealing Club to see if they knew anything, but they had no idea where those two went to as well.

"This is going to be harder than it looks…" said Sumireko. "I promised them I would help them, though, so I better keep my promise."

"Sumireko! Don't sleep too late!" shouted the voice of her mother from outside the room.

"Yes, I know!" she replied in frustration, and then she turned to the clock to see that it was nine o'clock. "Screw school… Saving the world is more important than that! I'm going to stay up until next day if I have to!"

* * *

The prison truck arrived at the entrance of Fuchu Prison. One of the guards came over to it, and the truck's window lowered to reveal the driver. "We got a new batch of prisoners," he told the guard. "They're the ones from that bar fight."

"Yeah, saw it on the news," said the guard. "Got all of them?"

"Yep," replied the driver. "Care to let me through?"

"Sure thing," said the guard. "Watch that they don't run off when you let them out."

"No problem!" replied the driver. The guard then opened the gate for the truck to go through.

The truck made its way to the parking lot, where there were a few guards standing by to escort the prisoners into the building. The truck stopped, and they approached the door at the back. As soon as they unlocked the door, it swung open, and Elis came out and swung her claws to fire energy blades at their throats, killing them.

The other guards were shocked by this, and before they had the chance to do anything else, Elis sped at them and took them out in a moment's notice. After that, Seija and the rest of the prisoners came out of the truck. The truck driver stepped down, revealing himself to be one of the prisoners in disguise.

"Infiltration success!" said Seija with a smile. "All right, boys, let's get to work and free our soon-to-be comrades!"

"Are you sure we can pull this off?" one of the prisoners asked her. "The security here is tight, and I'm sure there are tons of guards all over the place… If all of them…"

"Didn't I tell you already that we have someone here who can deal with them without a single problem?" Seija told him while waving a finger. "Elis is a vampire, and vampires are at their strongest during the night. These guards are normal humans, so dealing with them is no problem at all. In fact, I'd say I can fare very well if I am to do things myself! Anyway, let's get to work! Just follow my lead!"

* * *

Sanae and Shingyoku arrived back at the Sealing Club's headquarters. The latter was carrying the former on his back. "We have arrived, Miss Sanae," Shingyoku told her.

"Thanks… Sorry for letting you carry me back here… I ate too much and ended up upsetting my stomach…" said the wind priestess weakly as she got off his back.

"I brought back leftovers in case you feel hungry again after relieving yourself," Shingyoku told her while holding up a plastic bag.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just go and turn in for the night now…" said Sanae as she walked towards the resting room while slowly wobbling left and right.

* * *

It was about nine-thirty when Sumireko came out of the bathroom to head back to her room. As she was going across the living room to get to her room, she saw her father watching the news on the television, and what was being reported grabbed her attention.

"Fuchu Prison has been taken over by its prisoners!" said the news reporter. "The inmates managed to break out of their prisons from help that supposedly came from outside, and together, they staged a riot and took over the entire place! The police are currently trying to do something about this! According to eyewitnesses, this was staged by the same people responsible for the bank and the bus incident earlier today!"

The last line was more than enough to let Sumireko know that it was Seija and Elis behind the prison riot. Wasting no time, she rushed back to her room, grabbed her smartphone, and dialed Sanae's number that she got from the wind priestess while at the clubroom.

"Sanae? You've got to see the news!" the psychic told her. "Your enemies have made their move! I'll meet you at the clubroom, and then we'll quickly head over there! My parents? Don't worry; I'll sneak outside, and I'll come up with an excuse in case they find out I'm missing! Getting punished over something like this is worth it! All right! See you soon!"

* * *

Sanae wasted no time in using her smartphone to check the news. Needless to say, she was shocked at what she found out. "I can't believe she would actually do something like this…" she said.

"We must make haste and stop her!" said Shingyoku.

"Obviously!" agreed the wind priestess.

"Are you feeling better, though?" the gatekeeper asked her.

"Don't worry; I'm feeling better now!" Sanae told her. "I can't let an upset stomach stop me from saving the world, or a prison!"

Just then, there were knockings at the door, so Sanae went over to it and opened it to find Sumireko outside. "Sorry to be bothering you," Sumireko told her.

"If anything, it's us bothering you by getting you involved in this in the first place," Sanae told her.

"I've decided to get myself involved, so you don't have to blame yourself," Sumireko told her. "Now let's head over to Fuchu Prison and save the day!"

* * *

Policemen had arrived at Fuchu Prison, but they had yet to go inside. Some of the inmates were just behind the front gate, holding the guards of the place as hostages to force the police to stay out.

"If you try to do anything funny, they'll get it!" one of the inmates told the police while pointing a gun at his hostage's head.

"How come they have guns?!" asked one of the policemen.

"The staff in there have some stored away in case they need it," explained another policeman. "The inmates must've gotten their hands on them!"

While the police were wondering what to do, Shingyoku suddenly landed from the sky behind the inmates. The inmates turned around to face her, but before they knew it, the gatekeeper charged at them and managed to pull them away from the hostages before beating them up.

There was one more inmate who still had a hostage. Holding a gun against the latter's head, the inmate said to Shingyoku while trembling in fear, "Don't you dare do anything funny, or else…" Before he could finish speaking, his gun was pulled out of his hand by Sumireko using telekinesis. Shingyoku then rushed at the inmate, pulled him away from the hostage by the shoulder, and flung him away.

"You guys did it!" said Sanae as she floated onto the ground.

"And without anyone getting hurt!" said Sumireko. "Not counting the bad guys, of course."

The three then turned to the gate and saw the police out there, looking at them in awe because of their actions. "Who are those people?" wondered one of the policemen.

"So… you think we should open the gate to let them in? The more help the better, but that would mean exposing ourselves to them…" said Sumireko.

"I'm wondering about this too…" said Sanae. "We were told to keep a low profile about our powers, but then, they already saw what we did just now…"

Just then, Seija's voice could be heard being broadcasted from a speaker attached to the wall near the gate. "Attention, everyone! It seems that we have some special visitors here! That's right! I'm talking about those three girls who just showed up uninvited, even though I was expecting them sooner or later! Two of them, at least…"

The girls looked around until they saw the speaker, and they also noticed a security camera underneath it.

Seija was inside the security room, looking at a large amount of screens that showed different parts of the prison thanks to the various security cameras. Speaking into a microphone, she said, "Since the lot of you sacrificed your sleep to come all the way here, I think I'll be a nice girl and give you a chance at resolving this incident!"

"Enough of this madness!" Sanae shouted at the speaker and the camera. "Come out here and surrender yourself, Seija! We won't allow you to do as you please anymore! You have gone too far!"

"She won't be able to hear any of us from here…" Sumireko told her.

"All the staff members in this building are currently our hostages, so we can do whatever we want with them!" continued Seija. "Don't worry; we haven't killed any of them yet. I am giving you a chance at rescuing them, but only if you are willing to comply with what I am about to say next. I only want to see the three of you trying to resolve this and no one else. I repeat: only the three of you and no one else! That means those police outside are completely forbidden from coming in! If I see even one of them inside this building, I will tell my friends to kill all the hostages!"

"How evil!" said Sanae in anger.

"And to prove to you that I'm serious…" continued Seija.

A new voice then appeared on the speaker, this time the voice of a man. "Please! Save me! Help! No! Please! Gah! AAAAAAUUUUUGH!"

Sanae and Sumireko cringed at hearing the agonizing scream that lasted for several seconds before finally coming to a dead silence. Seija spoke through the speaker again after that. "He was one of the guys in charge of the security, and I just slit his throat. I like using knives to end my playthings' lives better. The joy of seeing them scream in pain as blood leak out from their bodies is sooooo exciting!"

"How inhumane!" said Sanae in rage.

"So remember: I don't want to see anyone else other than the three of you roaming around the place. Try and find me if you can before I get bored and order for the death of all the hostages! Try to entertain me the best you can! Yahahahahahahahaha!"

The broadcasting ended after that, and then both sides, the girls and the police, looked at each other. "You are the people she was referring to, right?" asked the police captain.

"Yes, that would be us," Sanae told him. "Please let us handle this by ourselves! The culprit wants us, or else she will kill all the hostages!"

"We will secure the hostages, and once that is successful, you may come in and aid us," Shingyoku told the police. "Until then, please standby here and make sure that no inmates escape."

"We understand," said the police captain. "Ensuring the safety of the hostages is top priority, but… are you girls really up to it? She speaks as if she knows you very well."

"I was the one who brought this burden upon you all in the first place, so it is my responsibility to put an end to things," Shingyoku told him. "Please allow us to resolve this incident for you."

"We have powers that normal people don't have! We can definitely put an end to this! Please trust us and let us do this for you!" Sanae told the captain.

After thinking about things for a few seconds, the captain said to the girls, "All right, we'll leave things to you. After you have ensured the safety of the hostages, contact us, and we will rush inside to give you our support."

"We will," Shingyoku told him.

"Leave it to us! We'll definitely rescue the hostages!" said Sanae with confidence.

After they were done talking to each other, the girls turned and headed towards the prison building.

"Are you sure it's all right to leave things to them?" a policeman asked the captain. "What can three girls do? Two of them look like high school students!"

"During desperate times, we'll have to make gambles and even put our trusts on unlikely sources of help," the captain told him. "I can see great confidence in the eyes of those girls, so I'm sure they'll definitely be able to do something about this. Let us put our trust in them for now."

* * *

The three made their way into the building. The moment they were inside, they were met with some inmates. "The boss said you folks were going to show up and that we should give you a proper welcome!" said one of them with an evil grin.

"Now that you're here, let us begin the welcome party!" said another one while cracking his fist.

The girls got into fighting stances, and Shingyoku said to the other two, "Please let me handle this. It will not take long."

"Are you sure…?" asked Sumireko, but before she could finish speaking, the gatekeeper rushed at the inmates and started beating them up while moving at a fast speed, so fast that they were unable to react in time to counterattack. "Wow…"

"I'm as surprised as you…" Sanae said to Sumireko.

In less than a minute, Shingyoku managed to beat up all the inmates present. Pinning one by the neck against the wall, she fiercely said to him, "Where are the hostages?! Tell me at once!"

"Screw you…!" replied the inmate angrily, to which the gatekeeper responded by slamming him against the wall so hard that cracks appeared on it.

"Tell me, or else I will shatter your skeleton completely!" she angrily said to him, and then she slammed him against the wall a second time.

"All right! All right! The hostages should all be behind bars!" said the inmate, finally giving in. "There are cells on both sides of the building, but I'm not sure which side they are primarily in! There are inmates guarding them, though, so it's not like you can simply waltz up to their cells and free them!"

"I didn't need to hear the last part!" said Shingyoku, and then she flung him against the wall on the other side. Turning to a shocked Sumireko and Sanae, she said to them, "We have to go and rescue the hostages now."

"O… Okay…" said Sumireko.

Sanae turned to the side and saw something useful on a bulletin board. "Oh look! A map of this place! Just what we need!"

The three went to the map to study it, and after they're done, they began to set off. However, Shingyoku had a different idea in her mind. "I would suggest that the two of you go and rescue the prisoners, while I go and find Seija and Elis. It is possible that they are planning something while we attempt to rescue the prisoners. They may even escape from this place while we are doing that."

"You have a point," said Sanae. "Someone needs to keep an eye on those two, but are you sure you can take on those two by yourself?"

"You do not have to worry about me," Shingyoku told her. "Please go and rescue the hostages. I trust that the two of you can do this, and I ask that you trust in me to capture the masterminds behind this."

"Then let's move out fast!" suggested Sumireko. "The sooner we end this, the sooner I can go home before my parents find out that I'm not home, though I have a feeling they already found out…"

"All right! Let's go!" said Sanae. "Be careful, Shingyoku!"

"I will, Miss Sanae," Shingyoku told her.

The trio then set off deeper into the building, and they eventually parted ways to do their jobs.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

This part is inspired by the last part of the game Batman: Arkham Origins, the part where the Joker takes over Blackgate Penitentiary.

Anyway, we're now at the third act of the story. Please look forward to the finale!


	8. The Game

**Chapter 8  
The Game  
**

* * *

Sanae and Sumireko traveled down a hallway as fast as they could to get to the hostages. They came across some inmates, however. "Those must the girls the boss told us about!" one of them said. "Get them!"

As the inmates ran towards them, Sanae said, "Let me handle them. I don't think I really showed you what I'm capable of yet."

"Yeah, that's true," said the psychic. "Entertain me, then!"

Sanae smiled and then stretched her arms to the sides. "Wind Calling!" Wind started to gather around her, and when she thrust her hands forward, the wind was blown in the direction of the inmates in the form of a tornado and blew them back.

"You think a little wind is going to stop us?!" said one of the inmates, who had a larger build than the others and was therefore able to stand against the wind better.

"Perhaps, but maybe this will do something! Wave Calling!" Sanae said as she made water form around her. The water washed down the hallway and washed the inmates away.

"Impressive!" commented Sumireko, liking what she saw. "So you control wind and water?"

"Those are just some of what I can do," the wind priestess told her.

"Those are very useful offensive capabilities, but I think mines better," boasted Sumireko.

"Yeah, I can imagine how useful it is to be able to move things with your mind or teleport all over the place instantaneously," said Sanae with a smile.

"It's my turn next when we run into more," said Sumireko. "Let's go!"

The girls continued on their way, with Sumireko moving in front of Sanae. They had just turned around the corner when suddenly Sumireko heard Sanae crying. She turned around to see the wind priestess pinned to the floor by Elis. "Sanae!"

Elis grinned while staring at her. "Don't do anything, or else I'll crush her neck!"

"Don't you dare do anything to her!" Sumireko angrily said while thinking of what to do. She was suddenly struck over the head by a chair slammed onto her by the same inmate who withstood the wind earlier and instantly passed out.

* * *

Shingyoku was having an easy time defending herself against the inmates she came across elsewhere inside the building. No matter how strong the inmates were, none of them were a match for her female form's strength and fighting skill.

With a fist to his face, an inmate was sent flying back at a fast speed by Shingyoku's punch. Two inmates ran at her afterwards with sticks in their hands, but she caught the sticks when they were swung at her and crushed them with her grip. Before the inmates could do anything else, she caught them by their necks and then slammed their heads together to knock them out.

"She's strong! How can we beat her?!" asked an inmate in fear.

"The boss told us they would be tough to deal with, but I didn't expect them to be like this!" said another one.

"Tell that boss of yours to surrender herself if you want to get out of this unscratched!" Shingyoku told them in an intimidating tone.

The remaining inmates backed away in fear, but then some more ran into the scene with guns in their hands. "Eat this!" one of them shouted before firing at her with the others.

In an instant, Shingyoku changed into her yin-yang orb form and formed a barrier in front of itself for defense against the bullets. "Did she just change into an orb?!" asked an inmate in shock.

The inmates fired nonstop at the orb, despite their bullets bouncing off its barrier harmlessly. Shingyoku then rolled in their direction, and they were knocked into the air like bowling ball pins before they could get away. Shingyoku changed into its female form and then turned around to see that the inmates who came after her with guns were out cold on the floor.

Shingyoku turned around to continue and eventually headed into a different room. In there, she saw several prison cells, but all of them were empty. "Where are all the hostages?" she wondered.

"They're all in the cells of the east side," said a voice. Shingyoku searched for the voice and saw a person inside one of the cells, sitting at the corner at the back.

Walking up to the cell, she asked him, "Who are you?"

"Someone who does not deserve freedom for all the atrocities he has done," the man replied in a sinister-sounding voice while glaring at her with in an evil way. "Apparently, that woman behind the riot didn't let me out, for she knows who I am and fears me. Honestly speaking, I have no interest in going back outside. I have lost faith in the world. There is nothing left in this world that has anything good to offer to me, and I am doing this world a favor by keeping myself locked up."

"How does Seija know who you are?" asked Shingyoku.

"Because I have been to your land before and caused havoc, telling the demons there to do what their natures call for them to do," replied the man. "Even the worst criminal from your land finds me too dangerous to be let out. Perhaps she made a wise decision to keep me locked up."

"I remember now," said Shingyoku. "I was told that a criminal from the outside world came to Gensokyo once and caused a large amount of damage and harm to its inhabitants. So it was you…"

"Yes, that was me," replied the man, "and I have no regrets about my actions there leading me to being in prison. Like I said, I have lost interest and faith in the world. What more can I offer to this world other than to bring chaos and to show people that man is born to commit crimes? I tried hard to convince people to live the way their natures demand them to, but they wouldn't listen to me. If that is really how they want things to be, living a deceitful life not made for them in the first place, then so be it! I have no more interest in living among people who turn a deaf ear to what I say!"

"If one wants to choose to live a life of justice, why is there the need to stop him?" asked Shingyoku. "Your belief that all must live the way their natures demand them is a flawed one."

"I can say the same for what you said too!" said the man. "Birds got to fly, fish got to swim, and humans got to sin! That is the rule of nature! No matter how much you try, you cannot shake off the feeling and urge to break the law! That is the kind of life mankind is meant to live!"

Just then, Seija's voice is broadcasted through a nearby speaker. "I see that the gatekeeper is doing a fine job beating up my servants!" said the amanojaku.

"Where are you? Surrender at once!" Shingyoku angrily said to the speaker, even though Seija couldn't hear her.

"What say we play a little game?" asked Seija. "You're probably itching for someone strong to fight. With your power, none of these inmates can put up a fight against you. If you are dying for a good fight, then come over to the gym. You better head over there at once and not give no for an answer, because people are going to die if you say no!"

"You better not do anything to the hostages!" Shingyoku angrily said. The broadcasting ended after that.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you succeed, know that no matter what you do, you cannot hope to alter the course of nature," the man told Shingyoku. "You cannot hope to convince that amanojaku to realize the error of her ways by stopping her. In the end, the nature of all beings will prevail and make them do what their lives want them to do!"

"In the very least, I will stop her!" said Shingyoku before heading out of the room to look for the gym.

* * *

Shingyoku made her way to the indoor gym. In there, she saw several inmates standing at the sides, and several of them were shouting insulting things at her. There were also some more inmates standing at a higher part of the room, doing the same thing.

Seija was seen on the higher part of the room, leaning against the railing and resting her chin on her hand. "So you got my message and came here! Good girl!" she said to her.

"This is as far as you go!" Shingyoku angrily said to her. "I have no interest in playing this game of yours, whatever it is! Let go of all the prisoners here at once and come back to Gensokyo quietly with me!"

"Where's the fun in that? And I went through the trouble of having your two friends captured so that this game can be played!" said Seija.

Hearing that, Shingyoku widened her eyes and asked, "Are you saying that you had Miss Sanae and Miss Sumireko captured?"

"Unless you're saying you have other friends, they are the ones indeed!" said Seija. "Why don't you fly higher to take a look?"

Seija moved away as Shingyoku floated into the air. She was surprised to see Sanae and Sumireko strapped to chairs, and metal rings were placed around their heads. "Miss Sanae! Miss Sumireko!"

"Sorry… We got captured…" Sanae said to her.

"Heeheehee! In case you haven't realized it yet or don't know what these are, they are sitting on electric chairs designed for executing people!" Seija told Shingyoku. "This is the game I want to…"

"I won't let you get away with this!" interrupted Shingyoku angrily. She flew towards her, but Elis suddenly flew at her and forcefully pushed her back onto the lower floor.

Holding her down by her neck, Elis said to her, "Either you play the game, or those two die!"

"Yes! Play the game, or these two die!" Seija told Shingyoku from the higher floor. "The game is to simply win against Elis in the shortest amount of time possible! I'll give you twenty minutes to win against her, or else I'll activate these electric chairs and give your friends the biggest shocks of their lives! So big that they won't be able to recover from it!"

"Don't you dare!" Shingyoku angrily said before prying Elis's hand off her neck and flinging her to the side.

"You will fight me, or else your friends will instantly be killed!" Elis said to her. "I'm already getting fed up with you, so I'm going to make sure that you die tonight!"

"You better put up a good show, because my underlings are all dying for a great show of violence!" said Seija. "C'mon! Make each other bleed! Beat the living daylights out of each other! Show us the greatest catfight the world has ever seen!"

All the inmates shouted in unison for them to fight. Needless to say, all of them cheered for Elis. While they were doing so, a scoreboard attached to the wall lit up, showing a twenty-minute timer.

Elis said to the gatekeeper with an evil grin, "Like all vampires, I'm at my strongest at night! Consider yourself unfortunate to be facing me during this time of the day!"

"I will not lose no matter what! I will defeat you and rescue Miss Sanae and Miss Sumireko!" said Shingyoku with confidence.

 **BGM: Demon's Mirror (remix of Magic Mirror, from the album Rhapsody of Okazaki Fragment)**

"Don't talk big when you know it's not the truth!" said Elis before swinging her claws at Shingyoku to fire a large energy blade that the latter managed to avoid by jumping over. The projectile hit the wall at the back end, leaving behind a long gash with cracks all around it.

After landing, Shingyoku jumped at Elis with a fist full of energy to punch her, but the vampire flew into the air to avoid it. She swooped at Shingyoku from behind and caught her by the horns. "These don't really look good on you, so let's get rid of them!" she said before pulling them in an attempt to rip them off her head.

Shingyoku grunted in pain while reaching back to grab Elis's hands. She managed to remove her hands from her horns and slammed her onto the floor in front of her. Elis rolled aside and got onto her feet before lunging at her to slash with her claws nonstop, and Shingyoku managed to block them all.

In the midst of blocking the claw swipes, Shingyoku managed to knock the vampire's hands aside with a swing of her arms. She then grabbed Elis's head and then headbutted her in the forehead hard. The vampire fell on her back with her hands over her head while crying in pain. Shingyoku jumped at her with her fist pulled back to punch her, but Elis avoided it by rolling to the side again.

Elis angrily lunged at her the second time, only to be sent flying to the side and crashing into the wall when Shingyoku swung her hand at her. Some of the inmates had to get out of the way because she flew in their direction.

Sanae and Sumireko couldn't see the fight going on from where they were. Taking advantage of the shouting and cheering making her voice inaudible to those far away, Sanae said to Sumireko, "Can't you do something to get us out of here?"

"The truth be told, I'm better at using my powers if I can move my hands…" Sumireko told her. "Using simply only my mind is something I haven't truly mastered yet… They knew what they were doing when they tied my fingers together…" Sure enough, her fingers were tied together and her hands were also wrapped tightly around the chair's arms.

"Then practice now! We don't know if Shingyoku can win her battle within twenty minutes, and if she doesn't, we're done for!" the wind priestess told her. "I'm not a psychic, so I need to be able to use my hands if I want to use my abilities! You're a psychic, people who use their minds to do stuff! This is your chance to master something you haven't mastered yet! I'm sure a miracle will happen if you try!"

"I know… I'm thinking of what I can do at a time like this…" Sumireko told her. "Don't worry; I'll try my best to do something to get us both out of here!"

Back down below, Elis stood back up while growling in frustration. Glaring at Shingyoku, she said, "That does it! I'm going to make you wish I never used this against you!" She then took out a star-tipped wand.

"That's the same thing she used back at my place to create a rip in the space between dimensions!" Shingyoku thought when she saw the wand.

Elis pulled back the wand before pointing it at the gatekeeper to fire a zigzagged beam at her. Shingyoku moved out of the way, and it headed toward the inmates behind her. They got out of the way in time, and when the beam hit the wall, it created an explosion that propelled them forward. Needless to say, a large hole leading outside was created on the wall.

"Stand still and get turned into ashes by this!" Elis angrily said before firing another blast. This time, Shingyoku changed into her yin-yang orb form and formed a barrier in front of itself to block the blast. The vampire was surprised to see that her attack was easily blocked. "Don't get so cocky just because you blocked it once! Let's see what you do about this after I've powered it up using the moon!"

Elis flew past Shingyoku and went outside using the hole on the wall. Flying into the air, she held up her wand under the moon, causing the tip to glow brightly. A ball of energy formed around the tip, slowly growing bigger. Shingyoku, still in the form of an orb, came outside and saw what she was doing, so it hastily formed a barrier that not only covered itself, but also the entire side of the gym.

When the energy ball was larger than her, Elis swung her wand to fire it at Shingyoku. The energy ball struck the barrier with a powerful force. The former exploded on contact, but the barrier was able to hold up for a few seconds before shattering. As a result, the building wasn't damaged, other than getting most of its windows shattered. There was still quite a shaking that made those inside fall to their knees. The force of the explosion also pushed Shingyoku back inside.

Seija stood up and leaned against the railing while saying, "Boy, she sure is having a lot of fun! Heeheehee!"

Elis came into the building and looked at Shingyoku, who was at the far end of the room. "If you thought that was bad, you won't like what's coming next! This is just the beginning!" she told the gatekeeper with an evil grin.

 **BGM Ends**

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The man talking to Shingyoku is, if you haven't realized it yet, Human Being, the main antagonist of Evil by Nature. I figured I throw him in here as a reference to that story and also to show continuity. I don't want to make the story too dragged out and complicated by giving him a major role, so I decided that a short cameo is enough for him. I don't really have any more ideas on what to do with him either.


	9. The Mastermind Falls

Fuchu Prison is an actual prison in Japan in case you don't know yet.

 **Chapter 9  
The Mastermind Falls**

* * *

Elis fired a star-shaped energy blast at Shingyoku, who changed into its male form just in time to cancel it out with a blast of circle-shaped energy. Elis swung her wand afterwards to fire a large amount of small star-shaped projectiles. Shingyoku responded by forming several energy yin-yang orbs around him that flew at them and cancelled them out.

Some of the orbs went past the stars and towards Elis, but she avoided them by dashing to the side. She thrust her wand at him to fire a zigzagged beam that he avoided by jumping away. He then thrust his hand against the air hard to send forth a powerful burst of energy that traveled so fast that Elis didn't see what was heading towards her at all. She was pushed to the wall and hit it hard, but was able to get back up fast.

As the two continued to fight each other, Seija wondered how much time had passed, so she looked at the scoreboard, only to see that the numbers on it were gone. "Hey, who turned that thing off without my permission?" she asked.

"I think the shaking earlier must've caused it to malfunction or something…" said an inmate next to her.

"Great… How are we going to know how much time has passed? Have you been keeping track?" Seija asked him.

"Nope…" he replied.

"Bah… You're useless," she said before taking out a knife and throwing it straight at his throat, killing him, much to the horror of those who saw it. She then said loudly to Shingyoku, "Since we've lost track of time, I think I'm going to go ahead and execute your two friends."

Shocked by what she heard, Shingyoku shouted at her, "Don't you dare do such a thing!" She tried to fly towards her, but Elis shot her from behind with her wand, zapping her to the floor. "AAAH!"

"All right! Time to make things shocking!" Seija said as she turned to the electric chair, only to find that Sumireko was missing from her seat. "Hey, where'd that girl go?"

Sumireko suddenly floated up from behind the railing and then tackled Seija, sending her face first onto the chair. Seija turned around and said to her in surprise, "How did you get out of here?! I thought I had your hands and fingers tied up?"

"You did, but thanks to that, I had to try to pull off teleportation using my mind and mind only," explained Sumireko. "I originally had to flick my finger in the direction I want to go in order to teleport."

She then pointed her hand at Sanae and flicked it to undo the restraints on her, allowing her to get up from her electric chair. "I knew you could do it!" she said to the psychic.

"Save the thanks for later, let's get down there and help Shingyoku!" suggested Sumireko. The two girls then floated to the bottom.

"Miss Sumireko! Miss Sanae! You're all right!" said Shingyoku as she slowly got back up.

"Are you all right? You look to be in a worse condition than us…" Sumireko said to her.

"I am all right," said Shingyoku.

"We'll help you fight Elis! The three of us can definitely take her out with ease!" said Sanae.

"You think you can defeat me?" asked Elis. "No matter how many of you come at me, you won't be able to defeat me during this time of the day! I'll show you what I'm truly capable of, and then you will all kneel in defeat before me before I suck all your bloods dry!"

 **BGM: Faith is for the Transient People (Touhou: Mountain of Faith)**

"We'll see about that! Daytime Guest Stars!" Sanae shouted as she raised her wand into the air. This caused a ball of light to appear at the tip and rise up, creating a flash of light that blinded everyone, despite the room already being lit up brightly.

Not only did the ball of light glow brightly, it also shot down beams of light at an angle in the direction of Elis, striking her. Being a light-based attack, Elis, a vampire that strives in darkness, felt intense pain from getting hit by the searing lights.

"My turn!" Sumireko said as she floated to the bottom at a fast speed. Pointing her hands at the vampire, she gathered purplish-pink energy at her palms and then fired a thick laser beam at Elis, blasting her in the direction of Shingyoku, who pulled back her fist and then delivered an uppercut to her chin when she came towards her.

Elis was knocked high into the air, where Sanae fired a ball of light at her that once again lit up the place brightly and blinded everyone. "Night with Overly-Bright Guest Stars!" No streaks of light were fired this time, though. Elis screamed as the light burned her all over the body, and when it died down, she fell back down to the floor, charred from head to toe.

The three girls stood around her and got ready to do something else in case she got back up, which she did. "Let's see you take on all three of us at the same time!" Sanae said to her. "And unfortunately for you, I have the right kind of attacks for taking out a dark and foul being like you!"

"Don't underestimate me!" Elis angrily shouted as she raised her wand into the air. The tip glowed brightly, and then she swung it around herself to create a shockwave that expanded in size fast.

Shingyoku changed into her orb form in an instant and spun as it moved towards the shockwave. As it spun, energy swirled around it, and when the orb came in contact with the shockwave, a burst of energy was created that caused the shockwave to disappear completely, much to the surprise of Elis. Shingyoku kept on moving towards Elis, who moved out of the way.

Suddenly, the floor around the vampire cracked, and then it came up in the form of two pieces of panels and pressed her in between them hard. Sumireko was seen standing close by with her hands, which were covered in purplish-pink energy, clapped together.

Growling in anger, Elis pushed the panels away from herself, an easy task to do thanks to her natural strength as a vampire. She was suddenly hit in the back by a torrent of water afterwards.

"Wave Calling!" Sanae shouted with her wand pointing at Elis. The wind priestess had summoned water to crash into her, as she knew that running water was one of the weaknesses of vampires.

"Spirit Explosion!" Shingyoku, in its male form, said out loud as he made the air in front of him "glow" in blue. When Elis was within the blue atmosphere, a series of explosions occurred, blasting her all over the body.

Elis cried in pain as she felt her body getting burned all over. The explosion propelled her into the air. Sumireko was floating above her with her smartphone held into the air. "Telekinesis: Radio Tower!" Eerie purple light came out from the screen of her smartphone, and then it created a solid projection of a radio tower that reached from the ceiling to the floor, a sight that surprised all.

Swinging down her smartphone, the radio tower fell on top of Elis and pushed her to the floor, crushing her against it. The floor cracked as a result of the radio tower hitting it. The tower faded out of existence afterwards, and Elis was seen lying on the floor with pain all over her body.

Shingyoku jumped into the air and then changed into his yin-yang orb form before falling towards Elis, crushing her against the floor with such a force that cracks appeared all around her.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

 **BGM Ends**

The intense pain of the powerful crushing force that was enough to break the bones of a normal human made Elis cry in pain, and then she seemingly passed out. Shingyoku changed into its female form and, while kneeling on top of the vampire, inspected her closely to see if she was really out cold. Noticing that Elis's eyes seemed to be partially open, she punched her across the face hard to knock her out for real.

All the inmates were shocked to see this. Seija on the other hand, didn't look all that surprised. "Can't say I didn't see this coming… Was hoping that it won't happen, though…"

Turning to Seija, Shingyoku said out loud, "The game is over! We have won! Surrender yourself at once!"

"Nah, I want to play a little longer," replied the amanojaku, "so why don't you play with these guys for as long as you can?" She then clapped her hands and said out loud, "All right, everyone! Go ahead and beat the c*** out of them! Anyone who can show me their dead bodies first gets to be second-in-command of this place!"

Hearing this, most of the inmates closed in on the three girls to attack them. Shingyoku noticed Seija running out of the room. "Seija is getting away! We can't let her get out of our sight!"

"I agree, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to let these guys run loose unsupervised…" said Sumireko.

"That can be dealt with," said a woman's voice. A gap appeared next to the three, and Yukari, Ran, and Chen appeared from it, much to the surprise of everyone present.

"Yukari! About time you showed up to do something!" said Sanae.

"I was aware of everything that was happening, just that I didn't really think I need any interference until now," said the demon.

"Leaving us to the electric chairs is not enough to convince you that you need to interfere?!" asked the wind priestess.

"You managed to get out of that safely, so you should be glad," Yukari told her. "Anyway, Shingyoku will go and deal with Seija. Ran and Chen will stay here to help you two fight these inmates. Meanwhile, I'll go rescue the hostages."

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" agreed Sumireko.

"All right, I will go and stop Seija at once," said Shingyoku before flying into the air and towards where Seija ran to.

The other girls got ready to fight the inmates, while Yukari disappeared into the gap to go rescue the hostages. "All right! Time to teach the lot of you a lesson!" Sanae said with enthusiasm. "I'm going to enjoy this as much as exterminating demons!"

* * *

Going down the path Seija might have taken, Shingyoku arrived at a room containing a golden Shinto shrine. It was a Shinto chapel room.

Thinking that Seija might be somewhere in here, the gatekeeper looked around the place as she approached the shrine. Unknown to her, Seija was lying against the ceiling above her. With a knife in her hand, the amanojaku dropped down in an attempt to stab her in the head. Shingyoku sensed her falling towards her in time, however, and swung her arm at the side of her head to send her tumbling onto the floor.

Getting back up, Seija said to her, "Still not satisfied with the amount of violence you've just been through? Heheheh! I knew you have a great urge for violence in you! You should be glad that I'm giving you the chance to punch people until your heart's content!"

"Surrender now! I'm taking you back to Gensokyo!" Shingyoku angrily said to her.

"You know, simply throwing me into prison isn't going to change me whatsoever!" Seija told her. "I am born an amanojaku. I am born to do evil and make the lives of people a living hell! Do you really think you can change me by locking me up and torturing me? Do you really think you can make people happy and feel safe just because I'm locked up? The way I see it, Gensokyo will not be able to see true peace until people like me are sleeping in their graves!"

"I was not given the order to kill you, but only to bring you back, so I will not kill you," Shingyoku told her. "Come back quietly with me!"

"You're a loyal dog, aren't you? You must enjoy licking the feet of your superiors very much!" said Seija. "You know, something like that doesn't really sit well with me because following orders has never been my thing, so I can't say I like people who follow orders way too much. If you insist on following orders, then I'll force you to break them!"

Seija flicked her finger in her own direction to make arrow-shaped projectiles appear behind Shingyoku and fly towards her. The latter ducked underneath them, and the projectiles spread out when they were close to Seija so that they wouldn't hit her. Seija lunged herself at Shingyoku afterwards to stab her with her knife, but the latter caught the hand holding the knife and then punched her in the abdomen multiple times before sending her towards a window.

Seija crashed into it with a force that made the glass break, but the wooden frame remained in place, so she didn't fly out. "Is that the best you can do? You'll have to do harder than that if you want to kill me!" she said as she picked up two large glass shards in each of her hands before running at the gatekeeper to use them as knives against her.

Shingyoku caught both her hands when they were swung at her and then kneed her in the chin hard. The gatekeeper lifted her over her head before slamming her onto the part of the floor behind her. She then punched Seija in the face over and over, while the latter laughed maniacally, as if things were going her way.

After punching Seija several times, Shingyoku lifted her into the air by the neck and then punched her in the abdomen hard to send her crashing into the part of the wall next to the door.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Slowly falling to the floor, Seija looked at Shingyoku while chuckling weakly, and then she passed out. It was at the same time Sanae and Sumireko came into the room and saw the unconscious amanojaku. "Did you do it?" the former asked Shingyoku.

"It's over," the gatekeeper told her. "It's finally over…"

"Is she still alive?" asked Sumireko, crouching down in front of Seija.

"She should be, even though she tried to get me to kill her, since she wanted me to disobey my orders," said Shingyoku. "I was given the order to bring her back alive, so I cannot do such a thing."

"She's crazy! Why would she want to die for something like that?" asked Sanae.

Ran and Chen came into the room. "All the inmates have been taken care of, while Mistress Yukari went and freed all the hostages," the former told the three girls in the room.

"Good to hear that!" said Sumireko. "Now that we resolved everything here, what's next?"

"Obviously, we get out of here," said Yukari's voice that came from a gap that opened up next to Ran. Looking out the gap, the demon said, "Good work, everyone! It seems that we managed to save the day! I've got Elis in here with me, so we only have to grab Seija and then get back to Gensokyo." She then turned to Sumireko. "We have to bring you back home too. You sure you can do something about your parents finding out you're not home? Not that I care about whether or not you get scolded, mind you…"

"Which is why we should leave fast," said Sumireko.

Lifting Seija over her shoulder, Shingyoku headed towards the gap, which grew bigger for her to go into. Sanae then asked, "Do we have to tell the policemen out there first? After all the trouble Seija and Elis caused, I'm sure they're going to find it strange that we all disappeared without a trace suddenly."

"Some things aren't meant to be known by the outside world, and even if it is known, it's for the best that they disappear without a word and never get brought up again," said Yukari. "I recommend that we just return to Gensokyo without saying anything else, or else we might get our land in danger."

"Mistress Yukari is right," Ran said to Sanae. "Gensokyo is a land that is unknown to the rest of the world, and we wish for it to be that way for eternity. Therefore, telling the people out here about where we come from may very well put our land at risk. I agree with her that we should return to Gensokyo without saying anything else in order to avoid possible issues that may come from saying too much."

"Though if it makes you feel better, we can at least leave behind a note telling them that we have all returned to where we originally came from and also to forget everything that happened these past few days," said Yukari.

* * *

As soon as they learned that the hostages had been freed and were safe, the police rushed into the prison to subdue all the inmates. The police captain went around the place to see if things were all right, and he eventually entered the Shinto chapel room, where he saw a piece of paper on the floor.

Picking up the paper, he read it in his mind. It said:

 _We have taken the ones who were responsible for the trouble these past few days back to where they originally came from. We are sorry for everything that happened. Please pretend that none of this ever happened. Rest assure that everything is back to normal now. We will not allow something like this to ever happen again nor will you ever see us again._

* * *

A gap appeared in Sumireko's room, and the psychic stepped out of it. Turning to the girls from Gensokyo, she said to them, "I had fun while it lasted! Thanks for making this night interesting!"

"I hope we meet again someday!" Sanae told her.

"I'll remember to go to your place when I travel to Gensokyo in my sleep," Sumireko told her. "Remember that I told you that I can go there in my sleep using astral projections?"

"Yes, I remember that," said Sanae. "Hope to see you soon!"

"All right, we should get going now," suggested Yukari. "She needs to change her clothes fast and get to bed before her parents come in here."

"Right, I really should… I'm also tired after what happened, so I think I'll visit you tomorrow," said Sumireko.

Both sides waved good-bye to each other, and then the gap closed up, while Sumireko went for her pajamas fast. "Oh yeah, haven't taken a bath yet," she thought. "I wouldn't want to sleep right away after going through all that…"

She exited the room and headed for the bathroom, hoping that her parents wouldn't notice her. She ran into her mother in front of the bathroom, however. "You haven't gone to sleep yet?" the latter asked her.

"Just realized that I forgot to take a bath…" the psychic nervously replied.

"Lucky for you, the bathtub hasn't been drained yet, so hurry up and take a bath and then go to sleep," her mother said before leaving.

"Phew… Good thing she didn't suspect anything…" Sumireko said in her head in relief. "All right, time to take a well-deserved and comfortable bath!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED


	10. The Gatekeeper of the Demon World and He

**Final Chapter  
The Gatekeeper of the Demon World and Hell  
**

* * *

Sumireko didn't have a good day, because what she did last night tired her out so much that the amount of sleep she had wasn't enough to give her energy to stay awake at school. Needless to say, she got into trouble.

While heading back home with a somewhat sleepy face, she said to herself, "Let's hope the visit to Gensokyo tonight will be worth it. Can't wait to see Sanae and Shingyoku again!" The thought of it livened her up, and then she happily skipped home while thinking of the fun she could have at Gensokyo tonight.

* * *

"Good morning…" Sanae said with a sleepy face as she entered the dining room. Despite having washed her face and changed her clothes, she still had the kind of look seen on people who just woke up.

"Oh, you're finally up!" said Suwako in surprise. "You've been asleep for a long time, but it's not surprising given that you've stayed up late yesterday night trying to save the day."

"I know… I saw that it was almost three on the clock, and I told Shingyoku that I was going to bring homemade lunch to her to eat with her, so I quickly got up…" said Sanae.

"We've made the correct estimate, then! Kanako said you might be waking up about now, so she's been in the kitchen whipping up lunch since ten minutes ago," Suwako told her. "Once she's done, you can head over to find your friend! On the side note, you made the front page on the news!"

Hearing this, Sanae's expression changed. She was now lively and looked like she had already wakened up for hours. Rushing over to the newspaper on the table, she looked at it and saw that the front headline was about her and Shingyoku returning from the outside with the criminals Seija and Elis, who were currently locked up in Infernal Prison.

"All right! I'm famous!" said the wind priestess in excitement.

"Congratulations! You always loved showing off, so I'm sure you would love this!" Suwako told her.

"Is that your voice, Sanae?" asked Kanako's voice from the kitchen. "If so, then please come over here and try out this sauce I made. I'm not sure if you or Shingyoku will like it."

"Coming!" Sanae happily said as she headed over to the kitchen. She was more than excited to meet up with Shingyoku and have lunch with her.

* * *

After hearing that Seija had been brought back to Gensokyo and sent to Infernal Prison, Reimu decided to pay her a visit.

Seated face to face with Seija, who was cuffed by handcuffs designed to suppress powers, in the visitor's room, Reimu asked her, "So… did you have fun out there and then getting beaten up by someone who isn't me?"

"It was fun while it lasted, but I can't say it's really that fun without you involved," Seija replied with a smile. "You missed out a lot of fun for skipping out on this. I feel bad for you…"

"On the contrary, I feel glad that I didn't get myself involved in this," said Reimu. "I don't expect you to learn your lesson after what happened, but you should at least know that I'm not the only person capable of stopping you."

"None of whom are as interesting as you!" said Seija. "You're my most favorite person in the world to mess with! The only other person who rivals you in this is that midget Shinmyoumaru. If I can't choose you to get on the bad side of, then I'll gladly go with her!"

"Say whatever you want… You're not getting out of this anymore," Reimu told her. "Your days of trouble are over. Good luck enjoying the rest of your life in this place. If you decide to behave yourself, they might consider letting you out because of good behavior, but I doubt you'll ever behave in a good way."

"Right on spot! That's why I like you! You know me very well!" Seija said to her. "Hell will have to freeze over before I learn how to behave like a nice girl! However, don't think that you and all of Gensokyo can rest easy just because I'm behind bars! No matter how long it takes, someday, I'm going to get out of this place and give you more headaches! You know I'm going to get out of here someday!"

"Right… I'm looking forward to that never happening…" said Reimu, looking unimpressed. She then stood up. "I'm out of here… I don't even know why I came here… I should've just let you stay in prison without letting you look at me one last time…"

"Admit it, Reimu! Deep down inside, you care about me! You can't resist seeing me one last time before I get locked up forever, which I guarantee won't be the case!" Seija said to her as two guards came to take her back to her cell. "Sooner or later, you'll grow bored and desire the kind of excitement you cannot find without me in your life! There are some things that once you've gotten exposed to, you will never be able to let go of it!

"Our days of clashing with each other! Those are the days that you cannot bring yourself to forget! You will want something like this to happen again! I guarantee you! That is why this place cannot keep me locked up forever! I will keep the promise of breaking out of here someday to once again satisfy your desires! Wait for it! Your days of excitement will someday return, and you're going to love it!"

After saying all those, Seija burst out into maniacal laughter as the guards took her out of the room; while Reimu ignored everything she said and got led out of the place by another guard.

The shrine maiden made her way out of the prison and then through the tunnel leading back to Gensokyo. Needless to say, she came across Shingyoku, who was in her female form. Before she left, Reimu turned to her and looked at her. The gatekeeper asked her, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Nothing," replied Reimu. "Just that I didn't really expect you to be able to save the day… Seems like you have changed a lot since the last time we met and fought…"

"I have indeed been improving since the last time we met," Shingyoku told her. "I should be right in saying that you have been improving as well. Had you gone out there to stop Seija and Elis, I am sure that you would be able to perform better than me."

"Maybe," said Reimu. "I am very used to resolving incidents after all, so perhaps I will have finished things up faster and with lesser casualties. Anyway, you did a good job."

"My job is to be the gatekeeper to the Demon World and hell," said Shingyoku. "If possible, I would like things to remain like this forever."

"Keep it up, then," Reimu told her. "As long as you do your job properly, no prisoners will escape again."

"I wish you success in your job as the protector of Gensokyo," Shingyoku told her. "That way, people will be able to live a life of peace."

"Let's hope you're not implying that I'm not doing my job well enough…" Reimu said to her.

"I am merely saying that for the good of all," said Shingyoku.

"In that case, thanks…" said the shrine maiden. "All right, I have to get going. Take care."

"Take care yourself," said Shingyoku with a light smile.

Noticing the smile, Reimu said, "That's the first time I've seen you smile…"

"People change," Shingyoku told her, still smiling.

"Whatever you say…" said the shrine maiden with a light smile before turning to leave the place.

Shingyoku then took a deep breath and then stood firmly in front of the gate leading to the Demon World and hell. She had been doing this for as long as she knew, and it was the best she was at. She wasn't going to let her failure lower her self-esteem. If anything, it taught her to be more careful and helped her become more competent at her job.

She was determined to do her job more carefully next time to prevent such a disaster from happening again.

Anyone who wanted to go to the Demon World or hell or leave those places would have to face the gatekeeper with three forms, Shingyoku.

"Shingyoku?" said a voice. Shingyoku looked and saw Sanae standing in front of her with lunchboxes in her hands. "Sorry for being late, but as promised, I'm here to eat lunch with you! Hope you can still eat…"

With a light smile, Shingyoku said, "I've been waiting for you, so I haven't eaten yet!"

* * *

 **Ending Theme  
Melty LOVE  
(remix of The Sacred Lot and Iris, by A-ONE EUROBEAT)**

.

.

.

.

.

.

 **Theme Ends**

THE END

* * *

That's the end of the story! Thank you for your patience of sitting through this story! It's not anything big or impressive, but I still hope you enjoyed what you read! Hopefully, this story will inspire people to write more stories on PC-98 characters, especially the lesser known ones.

I'd like to keep possible future stories a secret for now, but please be on a lookout for news about them on my Twitter account.

God bless you all!


End file.
